Special Irish Focus at Newport Beach Film Festival
The spotlight will be shining brightly on Irish film at the Newport Beach Film Festival next week with a number of Irish films screening and a host of Irish filmmakers and talent in attendance. The festival which kicks off on April 28th includes screenings of A Kiss For Jed Wood, Sensation, As If I Am Not There and Parked while Ian Power's The Runway has been selected as the Spotlight Screening film.
Inspired by a true story, THE RUNWAY tells the story of a South American pilot who crashed his plane in a field near an Irish town in 1983, and how the community came together to fix his plane and build a runway to get him home. PJ Dillon (Rewind) who was DP on the project will be attending the festival and will take part in a Q&A about the film.
A KISS FOR JED WOOD was written by Barry Devlin and Maurice Linnane and directed by Maurice, and follows a girl on a quest to New York to meet her idol Jed Wood. The film which is due for release in Irish cinemas in May will have its screening on May 2nd which will be attended by Barry and Maurice along with the cast members Lee Arenberg, Caroline Mornahan and Jay Thomas.
PARKED, written by Ciaran Creagh and directed by Darragh Byrne, stars Colm Meaney as a man who lives in his nondescript car in a car park by the coast. The film was selected to open the Irish Film Festival Boston and has also screened in Rotterdam, and Torino in Italy. Darragh Byrne will attend the screening which is on May 3rd.
Tom Hall's SENSATION which stars Domhnall Gleeson (When Harvey Met Bob, True Grit) has screened at a number of festivals including Toronto, Rotterdam, London and more recently at Vilnius in Lithuania. It will screen on May 1st and Tom Hall is due to attend.
Screening Times at the Newport Film Festival
THE RUNWAY
Wednesday May 4th 7.30pm Big Newport 5
Thursday May 5th 4.30pm Lido Theatre
A KISS FOR JED WOOD
Monday May 2nd tbc tbc
PARKED
Tuesday May 3rd 7.30pm Triangle Square 3
SENSATION
Sunday May 1st 5.00pm Triangle Square 6
AS IF I AM NOT THERE
Monday May 2nd 5.15pm Triangle Square 6
The Newport Film Festival will take place in California April 28th - May 5th
About THE RUNWAY
Starring Demian Bichir (Che), Kerry Condon (This Must Be The Place, Rome) and James Cosmo (Outcast), The Runway was produced by Macdara Kelleher, Brendan McDonald and Bernard Michaux for Fastnet Films and Lucil Films and was funded by BSÉ/IFB, Luxembourg Film Fund, Film I Vast, CIAV and Quickfire Films. It scooped Best Irish Feature at its world premiere at last year's Galway Film Fleadh and screened as part of the Director's Choice at the Irish Film Festival Boston in March. Watch The Runway trailer here
About SENSATION
Tom Hall's SENSATION which stars Domhnall Gleeson (When Harvey Met Bob, True Grit) details the relationship between Sligo farmer Donal and a veteran Kiwi escort, Kim. They begin as client and call-girl, evolve into genuine lovers, then business partners and finally co-defendants. Donal longs for love and meaning but settles for sex and status. He will come to realise that they're not the same thing and will ultimately be faced with the prospect of betraying Kim to save himself. The question is, save himself for what?
Produced by Katie Holly and Kieron J. Walsh for Blinder Films, it was financed by BSÉ/IFB, Rotterdam Film Fund, Screen Scene and has been chosen to screen at a number of festivals including Toronto, Rotterdam, London and more recently at Vilnius in Lithuania.
About A KISS FOR JED WOOD
Nineteen year old Orla from Country Antrim wins 'Follow a Star' on the Irish national TV station. Her prize is a quest - to find C&W star Jed Wood, give him a kiss, and report on her adventure on the following week's show. It was produced by Tim Palmer and Ignition Films with funding from BSÉ/IFB, RTÉ, Ardmore Sound and Egg Post Production.
About AS IF I AM NOT THERE
Oscar-nominated Juanita Wilson's feature debut AS IF I AM NOT THERE tells the story of a young woman from Sarajevo who is imprisoned in a warehouse with other women from the local village during the Balkan conflict. The IFTA-winning film premiered at the Toronto Film Festival and was also nominated at the Cinema For Peace Awards in Berlin earlier this year. The film was produced by Nathalie Lichtenthaler and James Flynn for Octagon Films and was released in Irish cinemas in March.
About PARKED
PARKED follows Fred Daly, who lives in his nondescript car in a car park by the coast. He is shut off from the world, until the ever-positive drug addict Cathal parks his little yellow car beside Fred's. Starring Colm Meaney, Colin Morgan and Milka Ahlroth, the film was produced by Jacqueline Kerrin and Dominic Wright for Ripple World Pictures and Aleksi Bardy for Helsinki-filmi, with finance from BSÉ/IFB and Finnish Film Foundation.
About Newport Beach Film Festival
During the festival films will be shown throughout the city that boasts one of the largest movie consumer groups in the world, a rich filmmaking history as well as fine dining, shopping, and exceptional recreational activities. In addition, the festival offers filmgoers a rare opportunity to meet the filmmakers. Directors, screenwriters and cinematographers eager to share their work will provide an exclusive inside look at the industry during post-screening Q&A's.
The festival which runs April 28th - May 5th will include other Irish projects such as Peter Flynn's feature documentary, Blazing the Trail: The O'Kalems in Ireland, Nadia Tass' bittersweet ‘Matching Jack' and Domhnall Gleeson's dark comedy Noreen which will be showing in Short Films programme.