Great Choice of Irish Documentaries and Masterclasses at the Guth Gafa International Documentary Film Festival
The Guth Gafa International Documentary Film Festival is ready to get underway, with a great selection of Irish and international films ready to screen. Amongst the lineup is a selection of documentaries and features funded by Bord Scannán na hÉireann/the Irish Film Board.
I mBéal na Stoirme (A Turning Tide in the Life of Man), follows John O'Brien, a fisherman from the island of Inis Bó Finne and his lengthy campaign to regain his ancestral right to fish the Donegal seas. The film explores the origins and political complexity of the global problems facing small fishermen and the impact on the lives of small coastal communities. A documentary eight years in the making, it was directed by Loïc Jourdain.
After the Dance is a deeply personal film by award-winning documentary filmmaker Daisy Asquith, After the Dance unlocks a deep family secret, still raw some seventy years later. Moving, revealing and often funny, this is a remarkable portrait of an Ireland rarely seen on film before.
Abasezi: The Nightdancers isa documentary following the Ugandan breakdancers Tabu Flo as they delve into a cannibal cult past to devise their new show. Abasezi: The Nightdancers was directed by Emile Dinneen.
In Life is Sacred, the fearless Colombian philosopher-politician-teacher Antanas Mockus and his followers struggle for peace in a country with the longest running internal conflict in the world. This is a story about 4 years and a life time that changed a country. And how learning to lose patiently might make you win. Directed by Andreas Dalsgaard.
For children, also showing are two Academy Award®-nominated animated features from Cartoon Saloon: The Secret of Kells and Song of the Sea, which both screen on Saturday October 3rd.
Other Irish documentaries to screen at the festival include Queen of the Plough, Let Those Blues In, Eat Your Children and Journey to Yu (In the Footsteps of Rebecca West). Audiences can also look forward to a strong selection of international documentaries.
Masterclasses at Guth Gafa
A series of masterclasses will also take place at the festival, with a virtual who's who descending on Kells.
Award-winning directors, Laurent Bécue-Renard (Of Men and War-winner of Best Feature Doc, IDFA 2014 and SFIFF 2015) and Helen Simon (No Lullaby-Winner Viktor Award, Munich Doc Fest 2015) will participate in a workshop presented by Screen Training Ireland in association with Guth Gafa, which will explore the many perspectives of filming trauma in documentaries.
In addition, Bafta winner, Kim Longinotto will be one of a team of high profile women documentary film makers who will participate in the Women in Documentaries workshop, also at the festival. This special event is presented in association with Women in Film and Television Ireland.
For more on the Guth Gafa International Documentary Film Festival, see their website here.