Diversity and quality in Film Fleadh line-up

Diversity is the theme of this year’s Galway Film Fleadh which runs from July 7-12, with 13 world premieres as well as a host of European and Irish debuts.

There’s the usual focus on new Irish features and documentaries, while the Fleadh also puts a spotlight on cinema from the Netherlands. And, in addition to a huge daily programme of short films, there are documentaries covering everything from food to music and Irish heritage.

Local films include the closing feature of year’s Fleadh, An Klondike from Inverin’s Abú Media. It’s the story of three emigrant Irish brothers from Rosmuc, who travel to the Klondike Valley hoping to strike it rich in the Alaskan Gold Rush of the 1890s. An Klondike was shot in Glengowla Mines outside Oughterard, with a strong cast including local actors Owen McDonnell and Seán T Ó Meallaigh.

Pursuit, a contemporary re-imagining of the Irish myth The Pursuit of Diarmuid and Gráinne by Paul Mercier, was also shot in Galway and will be screened at the Fleadh.

A documentary highlight will be the Robert Flaherty’s Oidhche Sheanchais and Other Lost Island Films. Oidhche Sheanchais, A Night of Storytelling, made in 1935 and featuring the cast from A Man of Aran, is regarded as the first ‘talkie’ in the Irish language.

Croí an Ċladaiġ, meanwhile, captures the building of a Galway Hooker from the woods to the water.

An Mar a Chéile Muid explores the impact of the 1970s’ Gaeltacht Civil Rights movement on Connemara, while Katie follows a life-changing journey by Katie O’Halloran, who was born without arms due to rare condition, Femur Fibula and Ulna Syndrome.

These films are part of a celebration to mark Galway selection as a UNESCO City of Film last December. So too is a Silver Screen Symphony, a free concert of classical film music by the Esker Festival Orchestra at the Spanish Arch on July 8.

See the full story in this week’s Connacht and City Tribune.