(Creators and collaborators involved with The SU with their award. Credit: Emilijia Jefremova)
By Marcela Villagómez
Sometimes, it takes seeing someone else’s reality to understand something beyond our own. That empathy can come from listening and learning what happens outside our immediate lives.
For The SU, that process works both ways: audiences are given an inside look at the people representing thousands of students, while the filmmakers discover the passion and persistence behind student politics.
Directed by Rob Dennis, Mark Byrne and Gerard Conway, The SU won the Best Irish Feature Documentary award at the 38th Galway Film Fleadh, alongside Try!, directed by Oisín Mistéil.
The idea began with Mark and Gerard, both of whom have daughters either in college or about to enter that stage. Seeing first-hand some of the issues affecting students, they wanted to approach the Student Union through film.
“It’s mental health, housing, the world issues that students care about. Young people often get a bad representation these days. There are people who tend to throw cheap stereotypes about them,” Rob Dennis says.
Across its 88-minute runtime, the documentary follows what Rob discovered while filming: that the Student Union is run by smart, passionate young people navigating their own lives while also trying to make a difference in the world.
The film is narrated through a tapestry of voices, including three generations of SU leaders, from Dean Kenny (2023–24), to Faye Ní Dhomhnaill (2024–25) and part of the transition to Maisie Hall (2025–26).
Activism is presented as a series of consistent efforts taking place in real life. One moment follows a Union of Students in Ireland protest in Dublin, where Dean speaks outside Leinster House about high fees, lack of accommodation, spiralling rents and the cost of living. Gaeilge is another recurring thread, including through radio programmes on Flirt FM.
The film captures the creativity invested in bringing these issues to the attention of people in power: Eyre Square is transformed into a shanty town to highlight the shortage of student accommodation, while 137 backpacks were installed during Mental Health Week to represent college-age people who die by suicide in Ireland each year.
Because all three directors are local, they gathered around 80 days of footage over two years. Approximately 60 hours of material eventually had to be shaped into an 88-minute narrative.
One of the documentary’s most striking elements is its conversations with former Student Union leaders, including Mike Jennings, former trade union leader and Union President in 1977–78, and Grainne McMorrow, an international human rights lawyer who served as Union President in 1978–79. Former President of Ireland Michael D. Higgins is also mentioned as a former SU president.
Their stories connect student activism with a longer tradition of public service. Issues such as reproductive rights and contraception have evolved since McMorrow’s time in office, while others, particularly the accommodation crisis, have remained present. The documentary also touches on the experiences of international postgraduate students, including difficulties around visas, residency and employment rights.
Its story extends beyond one campus through a glimpse into the Union of Students in Ireland (USI), the national representative body for more than 374,000 third-level students across Ireland.
(The SU aimed to impress as it dived head-on into student issues and the real people behind the work. Credit: Emilijia Jefremova)
The film presents student politics as something cumulative rather than temporary.
“We wanted to show continuity. These people are not one term wonders. They aren’t going to change the world in their year of students, but they’re going to try. And over time, it’s accumulative,” Dennis says.
If there is something Rob and his fellow directors successfully convey, it is the personalities behind the SU. Fearless speeches, commitments to causes that have included shaving their heads and literally “walking on fire” to raise funds during RAG Week, alongside humour and friendship, reveal a group willing to put themselves out there for the causes they believe in.
The documentary also captures the political awareness required to understand what is happening beyond campus. The SU is shown engaging not only with immediate student concerns but with international issues, including the Israel-Palestine conflict and University of Galway’s links with Technion, Israel Institute of Technology.
For Dennis, one of the most important things the documentary communicates is the breadth of the Student Union’s role in everyday student life. From managing the campus pub to organising events, campaigns and surveys, the SU has an influence that can go unnoticed.
For this reporter, that impact became real when the documentary showed the campaign to increase the number of free counselling sessions available to students at University of Galway. Seeing its development and advocacy on screen was a reminder that the issues students raise can eventually become tangible changes in their lives.
The SU shows the importance of participation and of caring about something beyond yourself. Change comes from people who keep showing up, term after term, and continue pushing for better conditions for those who come after them.
For now, Dennis, Byrne and Conway hope to bring The SU to audiences beyond Galway. They plan to continue its festival run before exploring a wider release, potentially through cinemas, television or a streaming platform.
“We managed to get a decent festival road. It would be interesting to show the movie in different sites, as these issues aren’t that different from other countries. It’d be intriguing to see their response,” Dennis says.
For Dennis, however, the documentary’s most important legacy may be something more difficult to measure than information: hope.
“I want people to feel hopeful for the future. Current politics can leave you feeling hopeless. But to see these guys’ passion, cleverness and how they achieve things, leaves you feeling like the future could be a little brighter,” Dennis says.
