Nomads on Screen

Join us for a thought-provoking film series exploring the theme of the contemporary nomad through the lens of psychoanalysis. Co-hosted by the IPFF and the DCU Centre for Possibility Studies, this three-part event delves into the fluid identities, displacements, and subjectivities of 21st-century nomadic figures on screen.

Each screening will be followed by a Q&A and discussion led by a distinguished scholar, psychoanalyst, or filmmaker.

Tickets available here: Eventbrite – Nomads on Screen

Event Schedule

• Saturday, 12th April (Completed)
  Film: Witches
  Discussion Leader: Professor Valerie Heffernan (Maynooth University)
  A lively and engaging discussion followed this well-attended session.
• Saturday, 24th May | 15:30 – 18:30
  Film: Nomadland
  Presenter: Dr Angie Voela (Psychotherapist, SITE UK; Senior Lecturer, Psychosocial Theory and Practice, UEL)
  Join us for a screening of the acclaimed film Nomadland, followed by a psychoanalytical discussion led by Dr Angie Voela.
• Saturday, 14th June | 15:30 – 18:30
  Film: In the Real
  Presenter: Conor McCormack (CFAR, Bristol)
  Concluding the series, filmmaker and psychotherapist Conor McCormack leads a discussion on his film In the Real and its exploration of contemporary displacement and identity.

About the Series

Drawing inspiration from the Greek root nemo (pasture), the term "nomad" traditionally referred to pastoral peoples and groups without fixed abodes. In contemporary psychoanalytic and philosophical thought—particularly that of Gilles Deleuze—the nomad embodies freedom, non-conformity, and a resistance to rigid identities and structures.

In an era marked by mass migration, social displacement, and the fragmentation of identity, these films highlight the lived experiences of those who exist beyond the borders of the social order—those, as Lacan might say, who are evicted from the Symbolic and whose stories echo in the realms of the Imaginary and the Real.