Galway Film Fleadh Programme Launch 2016
The Galway Film Fleadh yesterday pulled back the curtain to reveal the 2016 programme, which includes an impressive line-up of Irish features, shorts and documentaries, including a number of world premieres.
The world premiere will take place of The Young Offenders, a hilarious comedy inspired by Ireland's biggest cocaine seizure of €440 million off the coast of Cork in 2007, which follows two Cork inner-city teenagers as they embark on a 160km road trip on stolen bikes in the hopes of finding some unrecovered bales. Darren Thornton's debut A Date for Mad Mary meanwhile is a pitch perfect snapshot of modern Ireland featuring a breakout performance from Seåna Kerslake. Richie Smyth's stunning The Siege of Jadotville sees Jamie Dornan as Irish Commandant Pat Quinlan as he leads his Irish Battalion in a tense stand-off against local troops and French and Belgian Mercenaries in the Congo in 1961.
Friday, July 8th will see the world premiere of Liam Gavin's unique occult horror A Dark Song. Part fiction, part documentary, part speculative essay on the contemporary world, Fiona Tan's History's Future is about one man's odyssey through a Europe in turmoil - and through his own mind. We then take a journey into a very modern ‘Heart of Darkness' with two desert-bound mercenaries in Simon Dixon's gripping debut Tiger Raid. Other Irish co-productions in the programme include The Last King, L'Accabadora, Absolution and Moon Dogs.
Closing this year's fleadh is Galway-produced Sanctuary. Set in a world of people with intellectual disabilities, Sanctuary is a touching and funny love story about Larry and Sophie, two people who long to be together in a world that does everything to keep them apart.
On the documentary front, the festival presents some truly impressive titles including the world premiere of It's Not Yet Dark which tells the inspiring story of director Simon Fitzmaurice (My Name is Emily). Esteemed documentarian Ken Wardrop (His & Hers) presents the Irish premiere of his latest film Mom & Me which explores men's relationships with their mothers in the US's ‘manliest state' while Brendan Byrne examines Bobby Sands' legacy in Bobby Sands: 66 Days. Crash and Burn tells the story of Tommy Byrne who for one brief moment in the 80's was the world's best racing driver while The Land of the Enlightened is a visually sumptuous examination of war-torn Afghanistan. Following a world premiere in Edinburgh, Lost in France charts the story of the creative hotbed that is the Glasgow indie scene. Risteard Ó Domhnaill's Atlantic forms part of a culinary event taking place in Galway Harbour. Revolutions is an exciting story of the fast-paced and aggressive world of roller derby.
The world premiere will take place of three animated shorts produced under the Irish Film Board Frameworks scheme. Second to None, The Bird and the Whale and The Lost Letter will screen in the Town Hall Theatre on Sunday July 10. There will also be an opportunity for audiences in the west to see After '16, a programme of short films specially commissioned by the Irish Film Board to mark the centenary of the 1916 Rising.
Other programme highlights include a focus on female filmmakers with some 30 films directed by women directors screening as part of this year's programme; and a focus on Finnish Cinema. The subject of this year's public interview in the Town Hall Theatre is the titan of Irish cinema Jim Sheridan. Other special guests include Ruth Negga, who is receiving well-deserved Oscar buzz for her performance in Loving and critical acclaim for her role in the series Preacher, as the subject of the Actors masterclass with Screen Training Ireland.
Galway Film Fleadh, July 05 - 10
www.galwayfilmfleadh.com