Curtain-up For Galway Film Festival

The Galway Film Fleadh is set to roll out a stellar selection of the best in new Irish cinema, feature documentaries, world cinema and short films.
Between the 5th and 10th of July film-lovers will delight as the Fleadh will continue its rich tradition of showcasing new Irish talent.
On Tuesday June 5th the Fleadh will open with Darragh Bryne's first feature Parked, a wonderful tale of an unlikely friendship between the unemployed middle-aged Fred and the dope smoking Cathal. John Michael McDonagh's The Guard is another impressive first feature. Shot and set on the West Coast of Ireland and starring Brendan Gleeson and Don Cheadle, The Guard is a refreshing mix of uniquely Irish humour and pathos.
Award-winning actor Martin Sheen will attend the Fleadh for the world premiere of Stella Days, Thaddeus O'Sullivan's remarkable film about a priest's attempts to set up a cinema in rural 1950's Ireland, despite opposition from parishioners. The esteemed star of such films as Apocalypse Now, Badlands and the seminal TV series The West Wing will also be the subject of the prestigious Galway Film Fleadh Public Interview on Sunday July 10th in the Galway Town Hall Theatre.
The Other Side Of Sleep, Rebecca Daly's dark, dream-like and ultimately beautiful debut sits comfortably alongside Alexandra McGuinness' energetic, stylish and unerringly hip first-feature Lotus Eaters as statements of intent from two of Ireland's most promising young directors. And then there's Charlie Casanova. Terry McMahon's debut feature is a jet-black examination of the legacy of the Celtic Tiger and it's dehumanizing effect on people like the titular Charlie, a monstrous caricature of unstable Irish masculinity.
New Irish cinema from established directors include Gerard Hurley's The Pier which tells the story of Jack McCarthy's return to Ireland after 20 years in America to help his ailing father.
As always the Fleadh will screen an exceptional line-up of international features including Some Other Stories, a film which describes the differing attitudes to motherhood from five different women in five different countries; Circus Fantasticus which follows a father and his two small children as they leave their war battered home and join the travelling circus and Perfect Sense, a magnetic romance/thriller which stars Eva Green and Ewan McGregor that offers a deeply moving proposition about the way the human race might weather a global pandemic.
The Fleadh has long been renowned for its documentary strand and this year is no exception as they present a range of films for all tastes including Knuckle, a must-see documentary that focuses on the bare-knuckle fights amongst two warring traveler families, Ballymun Lullaby, an inspiring documentary about Ron Cooney, a music teacher who teaches children in the Ballymun Music Programme and Barbaric Genius, which chronicles Irish author John Healy's amazing journey from street mugger and wino to chess champion and award-winning author and a similarly rapid descent into obscurity. Meanwhile Men Of Arlington documents the lives of the residents of London's Arlington House, which housed thousands of Irish men who fled Ireland in the 1950's in search of work.
The Fleadh will continue to fly the flag for short filmmakers and will screen a range of wonderful shorts including the world premieres of the latest Frameworks, Short Shorts and Gearrscannain shorts in the Town Hall Theatre on Saturday July 9th.
(BMcC/KMcA)