Active Retired Screenings Spring 2010

Kerry Film Festival's Active Retired Screenings return with a John Huston season that sees three of Huston's movies playing on the first Wednesday of the month in February, March and April.

Beginning with Huston's debut, THE MALTESE FALCON, on February 3rd, continuing with THE MISFITS, on March 3rd and finishing with ANNIE, on April 7th the films show the director's fantastic range which encompasses everything from Noir to Musicals.

All movies screen in Siamsa Tire at 2:00 pm.

THE MALTESE FALCON
Wednesday, 3rd February

"It has rhyme and rhythm and makes the mind ask questions," said Raymond Chandler about Dashiel Hammett's novel, The Maltese Falcon. The eponymous falcon is "the stuff that dreams are made of," a priceless statuette pursued by a venomous femme fatale (Mary Astor), a scented sybarite (Peter Lorre), and a gentleman villain (Sydney Greenstreet) who oozes avuncular avarice. Caught up in their quest is private-eye Sam Spade (Humphrey Bogart), who has been hired by the woman on an ostensibly innocent assignment that has led to the death of his partner. With his literary sensibility and his fascination with eccentric characterisation, Huston is in his element: this is one of the cinema's great directing debuts, and the Hamlet of film noir!

THE MISFITS
Wednesday, 3rd March

Sophisticated, but emotionally crippled Roslyn (Marilyn Monroe, giving what many believe to be her strongest performance) has come to Nevada for a quick and easy divorce. When her landlady introduces her to aging, broken cowboy Gay Langland (Clark Gable), she finally finds herself with a worthy partner. Meanwhile, Gay and his fellow horsemen Guido and Perce (Eli Wallach and Montgomery Clift) scheme to capture a herd of wild horses. With megawatt star power and a brilliant script by Arthur Miller, The Misfits critical reputation has only improved over time. It was the last film made by Hollywood icons Gable and Monroe.

ANNIE
Wednesday, 7th April

In the depths of the 1930's, Annie is a fiery young orphan girl who must live in a miserable orphanage run by the tyrannical Miss Hannigan. Her seemingly hopeless situation changes dramatically when she is selected to spend a short time at the residence of the wealthy munitions industrialist, Oliver Warbucks. Quickly, she charms the hearts of the household staff and even the seemingly cold-hearted Warbucks cannot help but learn to love this wonderful girl. He decides to help Annie find her long lost parents by offering a reward if they would come to him and prove their identity. However, Miss Hannigan, her evil relative, Rooster, and a female accomplice, plan to impersonate those people to get the reward for themselves which put Annie in great danger.

Script Out Loud - New Writing Workshop

There's a new writing workshop at Galway Film Centre.

The one-day workshop will help screenwriters advance their material by exploring it 'off the page'. Participants will act out each other's work and tutor, David Keating, writer and director of The Last Of The High Kings and Wake Wood, will guide writers to improve their dialogue, action and scene descriptions. All participants will do a small amount of preparation prior to the day, which must be emailed to the tutor. This will include writing 1 or 2 pages of script and analysing each scene according to conflict, exposition and needs/wants of characters. Participants may bring a camera and ask someone to record their work being acted out.

About the Tutor:
David wrote and directed The Last of the High Kings (Miramax), starring Jared Leto, Gabriel Byrne and Christina Ricci. His latest feature, Wake Wood (Hammer/Vertigo/IFB), will be released in 2010 and stars Aiden Gillen (The Wire), Eva Birthistle (Ae Fond Kiss) and Timothy Spall (The Damn United, Sweeney Todd).
As a screenwriter, he has worked for Columbia Pictures/Sony and on Mike Newell's Into The West (Miramax). He has directed TV drama, documentaries and music videos.
He has also mentored on screenwriting labs Equinoxe Germany, Equinoxe TBC France, Moonstone and tutored writers and directors at Mira Nair's MAISHA Initiative in Kampala for East African Filmmakers.

Date: Saturday, 27th February
Fee: 100 euro for students, unemployed / 130 for others
Contact: Galway Film Centre.
Email: education@galwayfilmcentre.ie or phone 091 770 748

Galway Film Centre & RTE 2010 Short Film Awards

Galway Film Centre wants applications for the 2010 RTE/GFC Short Film Awards. The awards will be given to the two best original scripts for a short drama. Designed to promote filmmaking throughout the regions, the scheme, funded by RTE, is open to filmmakers from all over Ireland. The winners will receive a production fund of 9,500 euro each, as well as the use of facilities from the Galway Film Centre. The winning films will be screened twice by RTE.

Only one script per applicant is acceptable so please submit your strongest choice and all applicants must be members of the Galway Film Centre. If you think you have a good idea for a short film then now is the time to start writing!

The closing dates for applications is 5pm Friday 26th February 2010

For further information and an application form contact the Galway Film Centre on 091 770 748 or email info@galwayfilmcentre.ie

KFF deeply saddened by Michael Dwyer's Passing

John Kennedy, KFF, Michael Dwyer at the 2008 Kerry Film Festival

All at the Kerry Film Festival were deeply saddened to hear of the passing of Michael Dwyer. Michael was one of Kerry's favourite sons and the leading film critic in Ireland for the past two decades. His love of film permeated his writing and, indeed, his life. Generosity is not often a word associated with critics, yet Michael was truly a generous person and his loss will be felt on a local, national and, indeed, international level.

His love of film began on the streets of his native Tralee many moons ago. As a schoolboy he would stop by each of the three cinemas that the town had at that time on his way home to see what new treats were in store. He was instrumental in the expansion of Tralee's film society. Under his guidance the society began weekly screenings, which were held in the Ashe Memorial Hall, and they often sold out.

Moving to Dublin in the 1970's, he worked for the Federation of Irish Film Societies, and became a journalist, writing first for In Dublin magazine, then for The Sunday Tribune and The Sunday Press before finally joining The Irish Times.

He was instrumental in setting up the first Dublin Film Festival and led it successfully for many years before stepping away. It later ran into financial difficulty and Michael helped set up its successor, the Dublin International Film Festival, which is running strongly to this day.

Michael was awarded the Chevalier des Arts et Lettres in 2006 by the French Government for his support of French Cinema and was undoubtedly the most prominent Irish film critic of recent times.

Despite such success on a national and international level, however, Michael was also a friend to many of the smaller festivals around Ireland and he graciously opened the Kerry Film Festival in 2008, signing copies of his movie quiz book in Polymath's in Tralee that same year. Michael's mother, Mary, and his sisters, Anne and Maria, still live in Tralee and his passing is a terribly sad loss for them. It's also a sad loss for the legions of his fans and for his many friends.

May he have the best seat of all in the big cinema in the sky.