With less than a week to go until the full line-up is revealed, the Galway Film Fleadh has released early bird tickets for a further four films from the 2017 programme. Among the features playing as part of the six-day event, the following Irish and UK productions will bow to Galway audiences in July:
The Galway Film Fleadh will host the world premiere of The Drummer and the Keeper is the debut feature from director Nick Kelly. Gabriel is a chaotic young rock drummer desperate to hide his recent bipolar diagnosis from his increasingly exasperated band mates; forced to bond with Christopher, an institutionalised 17-year-old with Asperger’s Syndrome, resulting in a very unlikely friendship!
Aithrí/Penance is a period thriller from director Tom Collins (Kings, An Bronntanas), set around The Easter Rising. Fire-brand Father Eoin O’Donnell is convinced that only violence will force Britain out of Ireland. He influences young, impressionable Antaine to fight. Fifty years on, experienced gunman Antaine arrives in Derry and begins to influence Fr. Eoin’s alter server Feidhlim. Aithrí/Penance is also a world premiere.
Daphne is the directorial debut by Golden-Bear-winning Scottish filmmaker Peter Mackie Burns. Rising star Emily Beecham (Hail Caesar!, AMC’s Into the Badlands), plays the titular role opposite Tom Vaughan-Lawlor, two-time IFTA Best Actor winner for his performance in the hit crime drama Love/Hate. Daphne is a young woman who is witty, funny, the life of the party. Too busy to realise that deep down she is not happy. When she saves the life of a shop keeper stabbed in a failed robbery, the impenetrable armour she wears to protect herself begins to crack.
UK film Starfish will play at Galway after an impactful small release in the UK. The true story of what happened to Tom and Nic Ray, a couple whose love was tested to the limit when Tom became ill, apparently overnight, with sepsis.
A huge positive for the release of the film so far has been the way that audiences have been able to learn about an illness that affects around 9,000 per year in hospitals in Ireland, and 150,000 in the UK, with a tragically high level of avoidable deaths. Tom and Nic Ray have been campaigning vigorously for sepsis awareness since the first release of the film and will be attending the Galway screening to support the film, hoping to continue to spread the word.
The Galway Film Fleadh reveal full programme on June 27th at 6pm in Galway and online at www.filmfleadh.ie. The festival take place from July 11th to 16th in the Town Hall Theatre, Galway.
