The film is now freely available to watch worldwide on YouTube with subtitles in over twenty languages, including Irish, Arabic, Mandarin and Hungarian. The film premiered last night (4 December 2025) at a free public event in Trinity College Dublin, followed by a Q&A with the actors and production team.

Dumuzi's Dream and Dumuzi's Demons, performed by Trinity students entirely in the dead language of Sumerian, tells the story of how Dumuzi, a Sumerian shepherd god, repeatedly escapes from underworld demons, until they finally catch him for good.

The 20-minute film stars Trinity students Olivia Romao (4th year Music) and Gwenhwyfar Ferch Rhys (4th year English/Classics) and was directed and produced by Professor Martin Worthington (Department of Near and Middle Eastern Studies in the School of Languages, Literatures and Cultural Studies).

The film was funded by Trinity College Dublin, the Philological Society, the CAENO Foundation, the Thriplow Charitable Trust, and the European Research Council (in connection with the project ‘Mesopotamian Orality and the Anthropology of Writing’, of which Dr Worthington is the principal investigator). Filming was done by Cinetext films. Video Editing and VFX Artistry was provided by Taichuan Tang. Costumes were supplied by the Abbey Theatre and the Samuel Beckett Theatre.

Translation of the subtitles are thanks to collaboration with a wide network of individuals and institutions, including Tbilisi State University, the Council for British Research in the Levant (Amman Branch), and Seminari Theoloji Malaysia and Trinity’s Irish Department. Original score was composed by Rose Sherezade and Olivia Romao.

Watch the film on YouTube

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Image: Shauna Rachael McGeoghan.