Artist’s Film | UK & Ireland | 10″ | 2026
Synopsis
A night on the town in 1990s Derry descends into an abstract nightmare of drink, sweat and the inescapable feeling of being watched.
Credits
Direction, Edit and Sound by Michael Barwise
Voice Actor Andy Doherty
Archival footage provided by Vinny Cunningham
Used with permission by Archive Ireland
Developed though aemi’s Developing Your Practice as a Film Artist programme.
Haus Eight Films. 2026.
Festivals & Screenings
Docs Ireland 2026 (Belfast) – Winner Best Short Documentary
DokuFest 2026 (Kosovo) – Focus Ireland Programme
Prismatic Ground 2026 (New York)
Onion City Experimental Film Festival 2026 (Chicago) – Honourable Mention
Articles & Reviews
Prismatic Ground 2026 Forges a Vibrant, Accessible Path for Film Festivals – The Film Stage
“Michael Barwise’s That sanity be kept is a melancholy and nostalgic film, but also terrifyingly contemporary in its depiction of surveillance and the destruction of privacy as government agencies track the movements, faces, and clothing of various young people during a ceasefire amidst The Troubles.”
Filming the Bounds: Experimental Histories at Docs Ireland 2026 – Ruarí McCann
“…That sanity be kept is an imaginative depiction of surveillance and the latent paranoia and alienation that it festered beneath and above the surface… the stroboscopic blitz and bliss of a club reverse cut with and defoliated by the searchlight of a helicopter, the soundtrack periodically hijacked by the bursts of army intelligence, abrupt shifts and distortions in music and the overtly rehearsed nature of some of the footage — form a subtle picture of the city as panopticon, of life within a visible and invisible cordon experienced as a series of violent interruptions and impositions. Interspersed with relieving grasps at pleasure, piety and humour as people buckle and rebel against the gag.”
Shorts Shorts Shorts! Docs Ireland 2026 Review – Best Boy Magazine
