The Ick & Magic Markers Selected for Dublin International Short Film & Music Festival

The Ick and Magic Markers, both featuring original scores by Irish composer Emer Landers, have been selected for the Dublin International Short Film & Music Festival 2026, taking place this October.

The festival brings together Irish and international short films, documentaries, animation and music videos, with a particular focus on the relationship between film and music. Its 2026 programme includes a diverse selection of work from Ireland and around the world, including films from the 2026 Oscar-qualified longlist alongside new independent productions.

The selection of The Ick and Magic Markers brings two contrasting scores by Landers to the festival programme.

Written and directed by Jason Branagan and produced by Aaron Chalke, The Ick was produced by Playbook Media for RTÉ and Fís Éireann/Screen Ireland. The film follows an image-obsessed dater who develops a disturbing condition, forcing her to embody the worst traits of her past romantic rejections.

Landers' original score takes a dark hybrid sound-design approach, combining unsettling textures supporting the film's horror elements with lighter electronic and instrumental writing at the emotional heart of the story.

Originally broadcast on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player in December 2025 as part of the Storyland series, The Ick was subsequently nominated for Best Short Film at the RTS Ireland Awards / Gradaim RTS 2026. It will make its international premiere at the Newport Beach Film Festival in California in October.

Also selected for the Dublin festival is Fís Éireann/Screen Ireland Focus Short Magic Markers, written and directed by Jason Branagan and produced by Emer Durcan.

In contrast to the darker musical world of The Ick, Magic Markers features a thematic orchestral score by Irish film composer Emer Landers, drawing on the style of classic 1990s family films. Recurring melodic motifs and a warm, nostalgic orchestral palette reflect the film’s emotional arc and sense of childhood imagination.

Magic Markers made its world premiere at the 70th Cork International Film Festival, screening as part of the Fís Éireann/Screen Ireland Shorts programme at The Everyman. It was subsequently selected for the Dublin Film Festival in February 2026 before making its international premiere at the 50th Cleveland International Film Festival in April. The film also screened at the Fastnet Film Festival in Schull in May.

Produced by Playbook Media with support from Fís Éireann/Screen Ireland, the film brings together a creative team including director of photography Brian Durcan and sound designer Nikki Moss, with post-production completed at First Element.

Both films have also been selected for the Newport Beach Film Festival in California, where they will screen together in the Irish Shorts with a Touch of Luck programme in October.

Their selection for the Dublin International Short Film & Music Festival provides another opportunity to see both films on the big screen while showcasing two distinctly different sides of Landers’ work for film: the dark hybrid textures of The Ick and the warm, thematic orchestral writing of Magic Markers.

Screening details for the festival will be announced shortly.