As the good weather starts to kick in we take a look at the goodies on offer at this year’s Galway Film Fleadh. Always a fabulous festival. Hope to see you there.
The 31st Galway Film Fleadh runs Tuesday 9th to Sunday 14th July 2019
Irish Talent: New Shorts 1 – Documentary
Wed 10 July | Town Hall Theatre | 12:00
Features works from both established and debut directors, showcasing the best of Irish talent.
Cumar – A Galway Rhapsody
DIR: Aodh Ó Coileáin
Wed 10 July | Town Hall Theatre | 14:00
Through the eyes of six Galway artists this is an art film exploring the confluences which have shaped Galway and Connemara’s unique cultural fabric.
Featured artists include writer Mike McCormack, poet Rita Ann Higgins, singer Róisín Seoighe, street theatre director Noeline Kavanagh, visual artist Pádraic Reaney and musician Máirtín O’Connor. Comedian Tommy Tiernan also adds his distinctive voice to Cumar.
CAST: Mike McCormack, Rita Ann Higgins, Róisín Seoighe, Noeline Kavanagh, Pádraic Reaney, Tommy Tiernan, Máirtín O’Connor
Q+A with director Aodh Ó Coileáin
Glimpses of Galway
Wed 10 July | Town Hall Theatre | 16:00
The Irish Film Institute returns with a new programme of archival films made in and about Galway and its environs. The programme includes both amateur and professional footage, dating from the 1920s to the 1970s, and will cover such a broad range of people and places that you may well see yourself or someone you know on screen. The silent films in the programme will be accompanied by Aran Island fiddler Deirdre Ní Chonghaile.
An elderly group of international superheroes have retired to a nursing home in Ireland. Heroic adventures have been swopped for bingo and blanket baths. When one of the group dies after having his superpowers ‘downwardly managed’ for the safety of others, one of them suspects foul play.
Ray, the once world renowned ‘Maximum Justice’, decides to investigate. The rest of the gang are not so convinced, and Ray finds himself not only battling against his enemies, but the stigma and restrictions of old age.
CAST: Tom Berenger, Beau Bridges, Fionnula Flanagan, Louis Gossett Jr., Fiona Glascott, Ned Dennehy
Q+A with Fionnula Flanagan
Irish Talent: New Shorts 2 – Fiction
Thurs 11 July | Town Hall Theatre | 10:00
This series of live action shorts features a mix of traditional narrative and experimental storytelling. With an exciting programme of premieres and competition winners from Little Cinema’s ‘48 Hour Challenge’ & Offline Film Festival.
Irish Talent: New Shorts 3 – Fiction
Thurs 11 July | Town Hall Theatre | 11:45
This third programme of live action shorts explores the parallel problems of escapism from a variety of settings: judgement, troubled pasts and unhappy status quos. Featuring student work and work from established directors.
Finky
DIR: Dathaí Keane • WRI: Dathaí Keane, Diarmuid de Faoite
Thurs 11 July | Town Hall Theatre | 18:00
A musician and puppeteer seeking to escape his past steals an envelope full of cash and escapes to Scotland with his childhood friend Tom to start a new life. On their first night in Glasgow, Finky has an accident and is left paralysed from the waist down. He hits rock bottom, but is given a chance at redemption when he is recruited by Carnival Chaotica, an avant-garde circus troupe. As his journey becomes increasingly hellish and surreal he realises that he must confront his tormented past if he is ever to find peace.
CAST: Dara Devaney, Ned Dennehy, Diarmuid De Faoite, Fionnuala Gygax, Eoin Geoghegan
Q+A with cast and crew
Irish Talent: New Shorts 4: Fiction
Fri 12 July | Town Hall Theatre | 10:00
This programme of Irish Premieres explores love stories from the past, the present and everywhere in between. Screening work from both debut and established filmmakers.
Irish Talent: New Shorts 5: Fiction
Fri 12 July | Town Hall Theatre | 11:45
This selection of shorts celebrates the cinematic convergence of individual art forms. This programme features student film and work from established filmmakers. Loneliness and freedom are key themes throughout.
It’s hard to imagine anybody living a normal life in the Gaza Strip. Frequently labeled as the world’s largest open-air prison, this is a beautiful portrait of everyday Gazan citizens, leading meaningful lives beyond the rubble of perennial conflict.
Gaza depicts a people plagued by conflict but not defined by it, painting a tender portrait of a beleaguered humanity.
CAST: Manal Khalafawi, Karma Khaial, Ahmed Abu Alqoraan
Q+A with directors Garry Keane and Andrew McConnell
Bruno
Daniel is a man without a home. Following a personal tragedy, he left his wife and job and drifted into a life on the streets of London. Living in the shadows and surviving on the margins has taken its toll. He desperately wants to find a way back to his former life. But guilt and shame are insurmountable obstacles. Instead, he watches his wife from a distance, as she goes about her daily life. She is so close and yet belongs to another world. A world that he once shared with her.
Daniel’s only companion is a dog called Bruno. They are inseparable. But after he is assaulted one night, Bruno goes missing. As Daniel searches the city for Bruno, he comes across a young boy hiding alone in a dark playground. They search for Bruno, forming an emotional bond in the face of danger. Each step of their journey taking them closer to home and offers the possibility of redemption.
CAST: Diarmaid Murtagh, Woody Norman, Seun Shote, Scarlett Alice Johnson
Q+A with director Karl Golden and cast
Filmed over 10 years and covering a lifetime, Breaking Out is the story of singer and musician Fergus O’Farrell, an artist whose unique talent inspired a generation of songwriters and touched thousands of lives, even as his own was slipping away. Its pace matches the remarkable energy of its central character, a man whose pursuit of perfection, gift for friendship and capacity for love captivated all who met him.
CAST: Fergus O’Farrell, Meng Li O’Farrell, Glen Hansard, Jeremy Irons, Vincent O’Farrell, Maureen O’Farrell, Steve Wall, Maria Doyle Kennedy, Liam Ó Maonlaí
Q+A with director Michael McCormack and cast
Animals
DIR: Sophie Hyde • WRI: Emma Jane Unsworth
Fri 12 July | Town Hall Theatre | 20:30
2 best friends and drinking buddies’ hedonistic existence falls under the threat of responsibility and adulthood when Laura gets engaged to Jim – a devilishly handsome and ambitious pianist. As their relationship intensifies, Laura’s friendship with Tyler comes under pressure.
As the fabric of their friendship begins to fray, the bond between these two siren soulmates starts to implode. Finding themselves at a crossroads as their old lives start to slip away, both begin to encounter new opportunities that might carry them beyond their past hedonism. This film, set in Dublin, is a very funny, insightful celebration of female friendship and the choices we make.
CAST: Holliday Grainger, Alia Shawkat Fra Fee, Dermot Murphy
Q+A with cast and crew
As imaginative as the creative process it documents, this is a uniquely intimate journey through the inspiration, writing and recording of a PJ Harvey record.
Q+A with producer Katie Holly
Irish Talent: New Shorts 6 – Fiction
Sat 13 July | Town Hall Theatre | 10:00
This programme of live action shorts explores themes of avoidance and escapism. Featuring films from both new and established directors. A programme hosting home-grown Irish talent and international co-productions from the United Kingdom and United States.
Irish Talent: New Shorts 7 – Fís Éireann/Screen Ireland World Premiere Shorts
Sat 13 July | Town Hall Theatre | 11:45
Fís Éireann/Screen Ireland (FÉ/SI) is proud to present the World Premiere of an exciting selection of new Irish short films funded under the agency’s Frameworks and Short Stories schemes. The Frameworks projects included in this line-up are co-funded by FÉ/SI and RTÉ.
Following artist Bill Drummond over two years of his 12-year World Tour.
CAST: Bill Drummond, Tracey Moberly
Q+A with director Paul Duane, cinematographer Robbie Ryan and producer Robert Gordon
Tickets
The 2002 Bojayá massacre was and remains one of the worst mass atrocities in Colombia’s 50-year-long conflict. The victims were never to be properly identified. As a result, Leyner, a community leader and Nobel Peace Prize nominee, decided to become a lawyer to fight for his people’s rights.
Through capturing Leyner’s obstacle-filled quest in real time, a fascinating perspective emerges on the unfolding history of Colombia.
CAST: Leyner Palacios
Q+A with director Oisín Kearney
In March 2010, two American women, including one called ‘jihad Jane’, were caught in a number of high-profile arrests, which were trumpeted by the US attorney’s office as ‘the new face on terror’.
Facing huge jail sentences, the two women pleaded guilty but now for the first time ever, with unprecedented access, Jihad Jane tells the story of the most absurd terror cell ever to come together.
Q+A with director Ciaran Cassidy
Fifteen-year-old Allegra is constantly embarrassed by her mother’s immaturity, her dead-end job at the bakery and her lifestyle, encouraged by fast-talking best friend Aisling. But Pamela’s fed up too, having put her life on hold to raise her disapproving daughter.
When Pamela becomes unexpectedly pregnant, the relationship between mother and daughter is tested as the two navigate the upheavals of pregnancy and teenage hormones, driving Pamela and Allegra to a new understanding and appreciation of each other along the way.
CAST: Bronagh Gallagher, Lola Petticrew, Mary Moulds, Dan Gordan, Andy Doherty, Gerard Jordan, Paddy C. Courtney
Q+A with cast and crew
Extra Ordinary
DIR/WRI: Enda Loughman, Mike Ahern
Sat 13 July | Town Hall Theatre | 20.00|
A driving instructor must use her supernatural gifts to save a lonely man’s daughter from an aging rockstar looking to use her for satanic sacrifice.
CAST: Maeve Higgins, Barry Ward, Will Forte
Heyday: The Mic Christopher Story
DIR: Alan Leonard • WRI: Níall Carver, Alan Leonard
Sat 13 July | Town Hall Theatre | 22:30
One of Ireland’s great musical talents finds his body shattered by a road accident. After a miraculous recovery, he is reborn, transformed, and in his last year inspires his friends onto greatness. Mic Christopher was an enormous musical talent who since his death in 2001, remains largely unknown outside of Ireland.
This story charts Mic Christopher’s rise, fall, rebirth, and legacy – how he leads his wide circle of friends (an entire generation of Irish musicians ) onto fame, success and new artistic highs.
CAST: Mic Christopher, Glen Hansard, Sharon Horgan, Rónán Ó’Snodaigh, Bronagh Gallagher, Mike Scott, Lisa Hannigan, Colm Mac Con Iomaire
Q+A with director Alan Leonard and cast
This strand showcases a diverse range of short documentary films. We explore different themes surrounding present-day social and global issues in a variety of styles. Showcasing work from debut filmmakers and more established directors from Ireland and the United Kingdom.
A true story based on the testimony of Ifrah Ahmed, an Irish-Somali activist. In this female empowerment film, Ahmed escapes war-torn Somalia as a teenager. With the help of a human trafficker, she finds refuge in Ireland where she vows to devote her life to stopping the practice of female genital mutilation.
CAST: Aja Naomi King, Barkhad Abdi, Martha Canga Antonio, Maryam Mursal
Q+A with director Mary McGuckian
Irish Talent: New Shorts 9: Animation
Sun 14 July | Town Hall Theatre | 12:00
This strand of shorts celebrates the creative cornerstone of Irish film: the animation industry. We showcase the latest work from established directors and the best in new Irish animation from the country’s recent graduates of Ballyfermot CFE, IADT, Limerick Institute of Technology and Coláiste Dhúlaigh.
An Irish undertaker initially profits when outlaws take over a peaceful American frontier town, but his family come under threat as the death toll rises. Don’t miss this exciting fast-paced action movie set on the infamous California trail during the 1849 gold rush, where loyalties spin like the barrel of a gun
CAST: Emile Hirsch, John Cusack, Déborah François
Visit galwayfilmfleadh.com for the full programme
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