Festival: Galway Film Fleadh opens Call for Entries for Feature Films

The Galway Film Fleadh, probably Ireland’s leading film festival, is now accepting feature submissions for the 2016 edition of the festival, which will run from  July 5th to 10th.

At the 2015 Film Fleadh 18 World Premieres screened, as well as countless European and Irish Premieres, many of which have gone on to secure distribution or be picked up for further international festivals. Films screened at the Fleadh frequently follow on to Toronto, Berlin, Sundance, Tribeca, Venice, and London.

The Fleadh is an Oscar-Qualifying festival for Shorts (Animation & Drama), and it also offers a platform for excellence in filmmaking with retrospectives, public interviews, tributes and masterclasses from some of the world’s best filmmaking talent. In the past these have included Saoirse Ronan, John C. Reilly, Mohsen Makhmalbaf, Pete Docter & Jonas Rivera, Fionnula Flanagan, Josh Olson,Zachary Quinto, Will Forte, Martin Sheen, Stephen Daldry, Michael Fassbender, Ronald Harwood, Anjelica Huston, Christopher Hampton, Peter O’Toole, Jessica Lange, Kathy Bates, Robert Towne, Paul Schrader, Mira Nair, Abbas Kiarostami, Paolo Taviani, and many more.

Running alongside the festival, is the Fair, Ireland and the UK’s only film market. This unique marketplace co-ordinates pre-scheduled meetings between filmmakers and invited Film Financiers, Distributors and Major Producers, allowing new talent to be discovered and long term partnerships to be made.

The Galway Film Fair’s unique selling points:

  • Transatlantic Bridge
  • Intimate and informal atmosphere
  • Privileged access to the world’s leading financiers
  • Showcasing new European and International cinema to leading Film Buyers, Distributors and Festival Programmers

[quote title=”Screen International”]The Galway Film Fleadh is unlike any other Irish film festival. It packs in films,masterclasses, seminars, business meetings and gossip.[/quote]

[quote title=”The Guardian”]The Fleadh thankfully remains the most unpretentious and friendliest film gathering.[/quote]

The Galway Film Fleadh accepts Feature films, Documentary and Animation. Screening at an earlier film festival will not preclude selection, although priority will be given to Irish, European and World Premieres.

In terms of awards, the audience selects those for Best International First Feature, Best International Feature and Best International Feature Documentary, Best Irish First Feature, Best Irish Feature, Best Irish Feature Documentary while awards for Human Rights Cinema and The Bingham Ray New Talent Award are awarded by a Jury of Industry Professionals.

The earlybird deadline for feature entries is Friday 26th February at 5pm. The entry fee is €30. The regular deadline is Friday 25th March at 5pm, the fee for which is €40.

To view the full list of rules and regulations and to submit a film to the Galway Film Fleadh, please visit visit the festival website.