8 Irish feature films and documentaries supported by Screen Ireland will receive their World Premiere at the 34th Galway Film Fleadh, which revealed its full line-up. The festival, which takes place from 5th to 10th July, will present a diverse and eclectic line-up of film screenings, short films, masterclasses, Q&As and industry panels.
Désirée Finnegan, Chief Executive of Screen Ireland, said of the programme announcement, “our congratulations to the Galway Film Fleadh on such a diverse, eclectic programme of screenings, industry events and short film premieres. We are especially proud to see so many Screen Ireland-supported projects represented across the festival’s line-up, with 8 feature films making their World Premiere this July. Our best wishes and congratulations to all of the creative teams behind the projects screening at the Fleadh this year.”
As previously announced, the festival’s Opening Film will be the World Premiere of Emer Reynolds’ Joyride, the acclaimed documentary director’s first narrative feature film. Joyride tells the story of Joy (Olivia Colman), a complicated woman struggling with motherhood, who finds herself on the run with Mully (Charlie Reid), an adolescent with a mum-shaped void in his life.
Irish documentary is similarly in the spotlight at this year’s festival, with the World Premieres of a host of Irish documentaries, from Tukdam: Between Worlds, directed by Donagh Coleman, to Gary Lennon’s Piano Dreams, Simon Wood and Francois Verster’s Girl, Taken and Maurice O’Brien’s The Artist & the Wall of Death.
Intimate character drama Tarrac, written by Eugene O’Brien and directed by Declan Recks, will also receive its World Premiere at the Fleadh, and is the latest film from the Cine4 Irish language scheme, supported by Screen Ireland, TG4 and the BAI. Actor Éanna Hardwicke joins Ollie West and David O’Hara in the World Premiere of Michael Kinirons’ drama, The Sparrow. Shot by Richard Kendrick in West Cork, The Sparrow follows a teenage boy in a remote fishing village, wrestling with guilt after he keeps the truth of a tragic accident a secret. Hardwicke also stars in Lakelands, the directorial debuts of Robert Higgins and Patrick McGivney, in which he plays young Gaelic footballer, Cian who struggles to come to terms with a career-ending injury.
Other Screen Ireland-supported films will receive their Irish Premiere at the festival, including Antonia Campbell-Hughes’ It Is In Us All, fresh from its Australian Premiere at the Sydney Film Festival.
Documentaries receiving their debut Irish screening include Kathryn Ferguson’s Nothing Compares, Gavin Fitzgerald’s Million Dollar Pigeons and Frankie Fenton’s Atomic Hope.
The festival will also host screenings of Róise and Frank, bringing the number of Screen Ireland-supported features screening at the Galway Film Fleadh this year to 13.
The short film programme at the Fleadh will once again host a screening of seven Screen Ireland Irish shorts – a mixture of short films funded under Screen Ireland’s Focus Shorts and Frameworks schemes. The films include the World Premiere of Mia Mullarkey’s Safe as Houses, Rory Kerr’s Red Rabbit, Janna Kemperman’s Shadow, Sarah Benson’s Hermit, Eoin Duffy’s Regular Rabbit, James Fitzgerald’s Bad Boy Buck, and the Irish Premiere of Sinead O’Loughlin’s Lamb. Rounding out the premieres and Q&As are a range of industry events, panel discussions and public interviews.
Tickets and further information for all films and events are now available at www.galwayfilmfleadh.com or contact Town Hall Theatre box office on 091 569 777.
The Galway Film Fleadh is supported by the Arts Council, Failte Ireland, Screen Ireland and Galway City Council.
Source: Screen Ireland
