Date Published: 22-Jun-2011

This year’s Galway Film Fleadh, which runs from July 5-10, presents a selection of cinema from more than 35 countries, from Korea to the Congo, Argentina to India, Germany to Japan including a wealth of World, European and Irish premieres.

Martin Sheen will attend for the world premiere of Stella Days, Thaddeus O’Sullivan’s film about a priest’s attempts to set up a cinema in rural 1950s Ireland, despite opposition from parishioners. The star of such films as Apocalypse Now, Badlands and the seminal TV series The West Wing will also be the subject of the Galway Film Fleadh public interview on Sunday, July 10 in the Galway Town Hall Theatre.

The Fleadh, which was launched on Tuesday evening in the city, will host the world premiere of Bernadette – Notes on a Political Journey, Lelia Doolan’s new documentary on the life and work of Bernadette Devlin McAliskey. Other premieres include Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, a hybrid of performance-art and investigative documentary that tackles the US military’s controversial stance on homosexuality, and Irish director Neil Dowling’s debut Sarang Hey!, a globe-trotting romance set between Berlin and Seoul.

The festival opens on July 5 with Darragh Bryne’s first feature, Parked, a tale of an unlikely friendship between unemployed, middle-aged Fred and dope smoking Cathal. John Michael McDonagh’s The Guard is another impressive first feature. Shot in Galway and starring Brendan Gleeson and Don Cheadle, The Guard is a refreshing mix of humour and pathos.

The Other Side of Sleep, Rebecca Daly’s dark, dream-like debut sits comfortably alongside Alexandra McGuinness’ energetic and stylish first feature Lotus Eaters as statements of intent from two of Ireland’s most promising young directors.

Charlie Casanova, the debut feature from Terry McMahon’s is a black examination of the legacy of the Celtic Tiger and its dehumanising effect on people like the Charlie of the title.

New Irish cinema from established directors includes Mary McGuckian’s Man on the Train, a heart-rending film starring Donald Sutherland and U2’s Larry Mullen (in his acting debut) as a retired literature professor and a laconic bank-robber respectively. Gerard Hurley’s The Pier, meanwhile, tells the story of Jack McCarthy’s return to Ireland after 20 years in America.

The Fleadh’s international features will include No Return, Miguel Cohan’s thriller about a man convicted for a crime he didn’t commit. Some Other Stories is a film which describes differing attitudes to motherhood from five different women in five countries. Girlfriend, a drama about a young man with Down Syndrome, who has a crush on a single mum, is a refreshingly honest approach to a difficult subject-matter.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.