KFF Receives a Record Number of Entries

Steph Green's New Boy, KFF 2007

The Kerry Film Festival (KFF), which is celebrating 11 years of bringing film to the people of Kerry, was inundated with short films for its upcoming festival. 541 films were submitted for the short film competition, with films coming from 38 different countries across the globe. The increase in submissions is testament to the work being done by the festival in both the promotion of Irish films abroad and the promotion of short-films in general.

KFF has partnered with a number of film festivals in other countries and the approach has paid dividends with the festival securing more entries than in previous years. The partnerships have also provided a perfect way for KFF to screen Irish films abroad.

"This will be the eleventh year of the Kerry Film Festival and both the quantity and quality of the films has increased every year," said Jason O' Mahony, Festival Director. "We received 541 short films this year, which is up almost 20% on last year. We've had films from as far away as Argentina and South Africa and as close to home as Cork and Killarney and we're absolutely thrilled with the response."

Festival staff now face the difficult task of whittling those 541 films down to the 60 or 70 films that will screen as part of the festival. "It's part of the fun of the job," says O' Mahony. "With such a huge number of entries the selection process will take some time but it's already well under way. We received close to 200 films from Ireland with more than 300 films coming from abroad so competition for places will be very tough, particularly given the quality of the films. It seems to rise every year!"

Films that are lucky enough to be selected will play during the Kerry Film Festival which runs from October 30th to November 6th this year. Screenings take place all over Kerry but Siamsa Tire in Tralee will be the main hub of the festival.

"We're very lucky in our partnership with Siamsa," adds O' Mahony. "It's an amazing venue and filmmakers absolutely love to have their work screened there. The venue is top-class. The screen and sound system are top-class. And the staff is always so helpful and friendly that we're really looking forward to all the screenings that will take place in Siamsa this year!"

Once the films have been selected by the festival panel, they will compete with one another for a number of prizes that will be judged by both festival attendees and a select group of film adjudicators.

"We've lined up a stellar panel of adjudicators to help select the winning films. James Marsh, the Oscar winning director of MAN ON WIRE and Tomm Moore, the Oscar nominated director of THE SECRET OF KELLS, will adjudicate the documentary and animated short films respectively."

Kerry Film Festival is quickly becoming one of the hottest small festivals on the scene, giving audience members a chance to see films by up and coming directors as well as an opportunity to interact with some of the most established names in the world. The festival also screens a number of features, while its education programme alone saw more than 2,000 students from all parts of Kerry attend screenings in 2009.

"Last year was a huge success, in terms of both the numbers of screenings and the audience that came," added O' Mahony. "But we're pretty confident that 2010 can even top that."