The Galway Film Fleadh has announced the full programme for the 2014 edition of the festival, which takes place from Tuesday, 8th July to Sunday, 13th July. Representing the best in Irish cinema, the Fleadh welcomes back a host of Irish filmmaking talent, as well as new voices in Irish cinema. Celebrating the wonder of cinema, the Fleadh attracts directors, actors, cinematographers and film-artists of all types, bringing together audiences and filmmakers within an intimate environment to share a common experience.
Speaking at the launch, festival programmer Gar O’ Brien said, “The Fleadh is a festival of discovery and we are delighted to introduce new work from Ireland’s brightest young talents, while also welcoming back a host of filmmaking talent from around the world to Galway. This year’s programme is set to entertain, challenge and engage audiences, transporting you from the mundane to the magnificent with films from Japan to Johannesburg, from Canada to Connemara and beyond. In its 26th year, the Fleadh continues to grow from strength to strength, with premieres of new Irish films each evening, and luminaries of the craft from around the world as our invited guests.”
Showcasing the best of Irish, European and World Cinema, the festival will host a number of premieres including; Get Up and Go, where Love/Hate‘s Killian Scott and Peter Coonan take us on an unforgettable 24 hours through bohemian Dublin; Gold, from director Niall Heery (Small Engine Repair) and featuring note-perfect performances from a cast that includes David Wilmot, James Nesbitt and Game of Thrones’ Maisie Wiiliams; Young Ones an Irish/US co-production that’s a mix of dystopian Western and Greek Tragedy starring Michael Shannon, Elle Fanning and Nicholas Hoult;
and I Used to Live Here, a timely and important examination of the tragic phenomenon of cluster suicides, from the director of Ballmun Lullaby..
For fans of great documentaries, the festival continues to impress with insightful and world-changing titles like Brave Miss World, the empowering story of former Miss World and rape survivor Linor Abargil; Groundswell Rising, a movie about our need to pull together an defend our communities from gas drilling and its crushing infrastructure; and New Boobs,
a personal and open documentary about preventative mastectomy.
The Fleadh will also showcase a wide selection of the best in new Canadian cinema, bringing some of Canada’s leading filmmaking talent to Galway. Canada has a long and proud tradition of documentary film-making and the Fleadh will screen exciting titles such as Watermark, Our Man in Tehran and
Lunarcy! in addition to showcasing award-winning films such as The Auction, Maïna, Rhymes for Young Ghouls, Another House
and Gerontophilia
from some of Canada’s best filmmaking talent.
The subject of this year’s public interview in the Town Hall Theatre is one of Ireland’s best-loved actors, Brenda Fricker, who has starred in films such as My Left Foot, The Field, Veronica Guerin and Albert Nobbs. Hosted by Arena‘s Sean Rocks, Brenda will discuss her remarkable journey from soap operas Tolka Row
and Casualty
to becoming Ireland’s only Oscar-winning actress for her extraordinary performance as Mrs Brown in My Left Foot.
On Sunday, 13th July, the festival will close with the highly anticipated contemporary thriller, An Bronntanas, directed by Tom Collins. A contemporary thriller set against the background of a local independent lifeboat crew working off the coast of Connemara, An Bronntanas is the first ‘Celtic Noir’ thriller of its kind as Gaeilge. With a stellar cast including John Finn (Cold Case, Catch Me If You Can), Owen McDonnell, Michelle Beamish, Charlotte Bradley and Darragh Devaney, An Bronntanas is a film not to be missed at this year’s festival.
As well as its feast of films, the Fleadh plays host to masterclasses, Q+A’s, discussion panels and networking events, plus much more.
All information and ticket sales are available now at www.galwayfilmfleadh.com, you can also chat to The Galway Film Fleadh on Facebook www.facebook.com/GalwayFilmFleadh or Tweet @FilmFleadh