KFF Films make a Splash in North America

The Kerry Film Festival (KFF), which is celebrating 11 years of bringing film to the people of Kerry, has partnered with a number of films festivals across the globe in an effort to promote the best Irish short films. This partnership has paid dividends and is a perfect means for KFF to screen films from the brightest up and coming Irish filmmakers in overseas venues and festivals.

"We've very proud of the films we screen and would love for them to have an audience all around the world," said Jason O' Mahony, Director of the Kerry Film Festival. "To that end we've partnered with a number of festivals in Spain, Italy, Sweden, Canada and America to promote the short films which screen at the Kerry Film Festival."

The Nickel Film Festival, which is based in Newfoundland in Canada, and took place from June 22 to June 26 screened 11 films from KFF 2009. Nickel is one of KFF's partner festivals and received a DVD compilation of the best of Irish short films from KFF. From this initial contact the programmers at Nickel picked 11 short films which all screened during the festival in Canada.

"We knew that KFF 2009 had particularly strong short films and we were really proud of them but we never expected Nickel to programme 11 of the short films," said O' Mahony. "We partnered with Nickel last year too and they screened 6 of the short films from KFF 2008, so to actually improve on that total was a joy for us and really speaks to the strength of the films. It's also a ringing endorsement of Irish filmmakers!"

The films selected for Nickel Film Festival included Conor Ferguson's THE WEDNESDAYS and Tony O Donoghue's A FILM FROM MY PARISH, which picked up prizes at the Kerry Film Festival award ceremony in November 2009. Dave Fanning was the MC at the awards ceremony, which also saw world renowned director, Rebecca Miller, on hand to pick up the Maureen O' Hara award.

CARDBOARD BOY, a film from young Kerry Filmmaker, Kelly O' Sullivan also screened in Canada. "Cardboard Boy was a particular favourite of mine," said O' Mahony. "The director, Kelly O' Sullivan, hails from Kerry and the wee film has an absolute heart of gold. It's great that the film was screened in Canada!"

The Chicago Irish Film Festival also screened a number of films that had previously screened in Kerry with Michael Creagh's THE CRUSH winning an Audience Award and Don Field and Roy Lecane's IT'S ALL ABOUT GEORGE picking up the Festival Award, both of these films also played at the Nickel Film Festival in Canada.

Castlepalooza call for Short Films

Castlepalooza, which takes place in Tullamore from July 31st and August 1st, is looking for Short Films for the festival weekend!

The criteria for submissions are simple, all films must be less than 12 minutes long and the rest is up to you! All genres of film will be accepted, including drama, comedies, animation and everything else!

Selected films will be screened during the festival with prizes and an audience award for the best films, as selected by the festival attendees! One lucky filmmaker will leave the festival on a moped from UGO scooters!

The closing date for entries is 1st of July and selected filmmakers will be contacted no later than July 10th.

All selected filmmakers will receive two tickets to the festival and a chance to win one of the following prizes.
1st prize: UGO scooter worth €1,500.
2nd prize: Top of the range mobile phone.

All entries to be emailed to castleshorties@gmail.com
Or posted to:
Castle Shorties
Cherrycool Promotions,
13 Windsor Place,
Dublin 2

Galway Film Fleadh to screen best in Irish and World Cinema

The 22nd Galway Film Fleadh will take place from July 6 to 11 and lovers of cinema will enjoy a feast of films as Ireland’s leading film festival rolls out a selection of world cinema, feature documentaries, Irish premieres and short films. The festival which annually attracts 15,000 cinema lovers will showcase eight world premieres, 53 Irish premieres, 100 Feature Films and 115 Short Films.

Award Winning Actress Annette Bening will give the Actor’s Masterclass and participate in the prestigious Public Interview in the Town Hall Theatre on Sunday July 11. Filmmaker, producer, journalist and activist, Lelia Doolan is the subject of the Irish Tribute and will take part in a special interview in the Cinemobile on Saturday July 10 while renowned screenwriter Sir Ronald Harwood and acclaimed director Stephen Daltry will give the Screenwriter’s and Director’s Masterclasses respectively.

The Festival will open with the screening of My Brothers which tells the story of three brothers’ eccentric quest to replace their dying father’s tacky watch. The 22nd Galway Film Fleadh will close with the screening of The Messenger which boasts an Oscar nominated performance from Woody Harrelson.

The Festival will screen an array of international features and ones to note include The Double Hour, a mysterious thriller with brilliant performances and great twists, the wonderful animated feature The Illusionist which explores the relationship between an aged magician and a young girl and The Kids are All Right which stars Annette Bening and Juliette Moore and was the most talked about film at the 2010 Sunday Film Festival.

The Men Who Will Come is a majestic film about a communities experience of the Second World War, El Secreto de Sus Ojos is the deserved winner of this year’s Oscar for Best Foreign Film while The Unloved is a remarkably assured film about a young girl in care which is inspired by her own experience. The Fleadh will screen Toy Story 3 and the screening will be attended by the film’s renowned director Lee Unkich and producer Karla K. Anderson.

It has been a great year for new Irish Cinema and this is reflected by the quality of Irish films on offer at the Fleadh. Irish features include Come On Eileen which stars Keith Allen and Noel Fielding of the Mighty Boosh fame, The Runway which recounts the story of a west Cork community coming together to help a Cuban pilot return home and Snap a taut suspense filled psychological drama about three generations of family poised to repeat the mistakes of the past.

Sensation showcases the acting talent of Domhnall Gleeson, All Good Children is a richly observed story of a childhood haunted by trauma while Outcast which stars James Nesbitt tells the story of a mother and son who use magic to stay hidden. Lovers of thrillers will enjoy Rewind while Between the Canals follows the life of three inner city Dublin criminals. The Looking Glass, Where the Sea Used to Be and Seaside Stories are but a selection of the Irish films on display.

Quality documentaries abound in this years’ Fleadh. Don’t miss the Irish produced The Pipe which describes the tensions of Rossport and the pressures and fractures within the Shell to Sea Campaign. Steam of Life explores the cultural phenomenon of how Finnish men interact with each other in saunas; Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work is a hilarious and revealing documentary of how this American icon deals with financial troubles.

The heroes of Men Who Swim invest all their mid-life neurosis into their hobby: synchronized swimming while Counting Sheep, by Galway-based filmmaker, Dieter Auner is a tender and beautifully observed documentary on Romanian rural life. Burma Soldier tells the powerful story of a Burmese soldier who risks everything to become a pro democracy activist, lovers of cakes will really enjoy Kings of Pastry while Monica and David explores the marriage of two adults with Down Syndrome and will be followed by a panel discussion chaired by Fergus Finlay.

Glimpses of Galway is a fascinating programme of silent films from the Irish Film Archive which were made in Galway and will be brought to life by pianist Elaine Brennan.

Lovers of short films will not be disappointed as the Fleadh will screen a mixture of animation, documentary and fiction shorts and short filmmakers will compete for several prestigious awards. As part of it’s Out on Film Strand the Galway Film Fleadh will once again promote the best in gay and lesbian films.

Tickets for all screenings are available from the Town Hall Theatre in Galway (Tel: 091 569777/www.tht.ie). The Full Festival Programme is available online.

Annette Benning at Galway FIlm Fleadh

The Galway Film Fleadh/Hubbard Casting in association with Fás Screen Training Ireland are delighted to announce that Annette Bening will deliver the Actors Masterclass at the 22nd Galway Film Fleadh.

Annette Bening was born in Topeka, Kansas and raised in San Diego. She graduated from San Francisco State University and began her acting career with the American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco, eventually moving to New York where she acted on the stage. Renowned for her ability to take characters into deep, unexpected, emotional places, Annette’s years of study culminated in a Tony-nominated performance in Tina Howe's Coastal Disturbances, a New England-set summertime saga in which the newcomer starred as a passionate, free-spirited young photographer on a beach vacation.

Her formative theatrical years also included starring roles in Shakespeare, Chekhov, and other classic dramas at the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego, the Colorado Shakespeare Festival, and the Denver Centre Theatre Company, where she spent a year in 1985.

Early in her movie career, she made an impression as a wise-beyond-her-years sex kitten in The Grifters (1990) which earned Annette a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination. She went on to demonstrate her versatility by portraying nurturing, supportive wives in Guilty By Suspicion (1991) and Regarding Henry (1991) before returning to a more seductive role opposite future husband Warren Beatty in Bugsy (1991), earning a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress for her portrayal of the tempestuous and uncontrollable girlfriend of doomed gangster Bugsy Siegel, Virginia Hill. And though she never lost that cunning, brainy, sex appeal, she became more often associated with complex, professional women on the verge of self-destruction in darkly humorous dramas like American Beauty (1999), Being Julia (2004) and Running with Scissors (2006).

After appearing in Tim Burton's odd sci-fi comedy Mars Attacks! (1996), Annette starred alongside Bruce Willis and Denzel Washington in the controversial thriller The Siege (1998) and teamed with Aidan Quinn as a psychic with connections to a killer in Neil Jordan's In Dreams (1999). In 1999, she gave a stellar, career-defining performance as the domineering real estate broker married to a man in a midlife crisis in the acclaimed American Beauty (1999). For her characterization of the tightly wound, image conscious, suburban overachiever, Annette earned nominations from the Academy Awards as well as the Golden Globes.

She earned some of the best reviews of her career the following year when she starred as a diva stage actress caught up in a May-December romance with a young social climber in Being Julia (2004), a bravura turn that earned the versatile actress a Golden Globe award and an Oscar nomination.

Annette was most recently seen on the big screen in writer-director Rodrigo Garcia's Mother and Child, starring alongside Samuel L. Jackson and Naomi Watts. She will next be seen in Focus Features' The Kids Are All Right, opening July 7th, in which she plays opposite Julianne Moore and Mark Ruffalo

The Master Class will take place in the Radisson Hotel, Galway (date tbc) and costs €50. Please apply online at www.screentrainingireland.ie. For further information please contact Bronagh Keys at 091-562200 or email: masterclasses@galwayfilmfleadh.com or contact Criona Sexton/Sorcha Loughnane at FÁS Screen Training Ireland, 01 6077437/016077468.
Please note places are limited. Deadline for applications: Friday the 25th of June.