Spanish film to open this year’s Galway Film Fleadh

The Spanish dramedy, Tasting Menu, directed by the award-winning Roger Gual will open this year’s Galway Film Fleadh while the Festival’s closing film will be the highly anticipated adaptation of John Banville’s novel, The Sea, directed by Stephen Brown.

Tasting Menu, which stars Fionnula Flanagan, Stephen Rea, Claudia Bassols, Jan Cornet, Rodrigo Cortés and Togo Igawa, is a romantic ensemble comedy devoted to the beauty of love, food and the Mediterranean way of life.

The film centres around Marc (Jan Cornet) and Rachel (Claudia Bassols), who have booked a table at the best restaurant in the world, situated in an idyllic cove of Costa Brava. When it turns out that the booking is on the same date as the last night before the restaurant closes forever, their booking becomes even more important and the night when unexpected things happen.

The Sea looks set to be a highlight of this year’s Fleadh, with a cast that includes Ciarán Hinds, Charlotte Rampling, Natascha McElhone, Rufus Sewell, Bonnie Wright and Sinéad Cusack.  Grieving after the death of his wife, Max Morden (Ciarán Hinds) returns to the seaside resort where he spent summers as a child. Before long – and despite protestations from his daughter Clare (Ruth Bradley) – Max revisits the ghosts of his past. While Max attempts to deal with the loss of his wife, and recalls moments with his departed partner, Anna (Sinéad Cusack), he also confronts a distant trauma from the past.

Tickets for these and other Fleadh events will be available to book from the Town Hall Theatre on 091 569777 or at www.tht.ie

The six-day 2013 international film event takes place from Tuesday, July 9 until Sunday, July 14 and is a highlight of the Irish social and film industry calendar. For further details and information, log onto http://www.galwayfilmfleadh.com, chat to The Galway Film Fleadh on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/GalwayFilmFleadh or tweet @FilmFleadh