Galway Film Fleadh 11-16 July 2023

Running from 11 – 16 July, the Fleadh will feature 21 World Premieres, 6 European Premieres and 60 Irish Premieres from 43 countries, featuring 95 feature films in total.

Highlights include an advance screening of Thaddeus O’Sullivan’s, The Miracle Club, the World Premieres of Irish films, Apocalypse Clown, Lies We Tell, The Martini Shot, Face Down, Verdigrisand Made In Dublin, the Irish premiere of acclaimed debut film, Past Liveswith director Céline Song in attendance and the Irish premiere of the winner of the Golden Bear at Berlinale, On The Adamant from director Nicholas Philibert.

We are introducing new sections with a focus on Architecture on Film, Defender and The Artist On Film alongside our well-established programme sections such as Irish Cinema, World Cinema, Peripheral Visions, Generation and What the Fleadh?! ”

Our Bingham Ray New Talent Award features 10 nominees from all disciplines across film including Agnes O’Casey who leads the cast in the World Premiere ofLies We Tellfrom director, Lisa Mulcahy, where a young woman finds herself in a struggle with family in this period drama. In the World premiere of Patricia Kelly’s Verdigris, New Talent Nominee, Maya O’ Shea plays a young woman, Jewel who befriends an older woman, Marian, a census enumerator, who needs her support to fill out the forms on the streets of Dublin.

In our new programme section Artist On Film, we encounter artists from across a variety of artforms including, a drama about the artist Audrey Amiss in Carol Morley’s Typist Artist Pirate King, an investigative portrait of the master of cinematic melodrama in Douglas Sirk – Hope As In Despair and director Michael Modak-Truran captures the complexity of Faulkner’s work and life in Faulkner: The Past Is Never Dead. We will screen the World Premiere of Donald Taylor Black’s documentary, John Behan – Odyssey which will tell the story of one of Ireland’s best–known living sculptors.

Animation highlights include the Irish Premiere of A Greyhound Of A Girl, a family animation from director Enzo d’Alo that follows 11-year-old Mary who loves to cook and dreams of becoming a great chef. This adaptation of Roddy Doyle’s novel features a cast that includes, Brendan Gleeson, Sharon Horgan, Rosaleen Linehan and Charlene McKenna. Part of our Peripheral Visions Competition is the Irish premiere of White Plastic Sky, a Hungarian dystopian animation from Tibor Ba?no?czki and Sarolta Szabo? set in the year 2123. Faced with diminishing resources, the human race can only survive through a trade-off: at the age of 50, every citizen is gradually turned into a tree.

Our new Defender Strand features films that look at political policy, climate activism and humanitarian struggles. These include the Irish premiere of Lonely Oaks which tells the story of the occupation of Hambach Forest in Germany and the tragic circumstances surrounding the film. Let The River Flow is a heart-breaking story inspired by a series of protests in 1970s-’80s’ Norway while Polish film, Backwards from director, Jacek Lusin?ski follows a mother fighting for her autistic child’s rights to attend mainstream school.

A new Architecture on Film strand presents films that explore our landscape and buildings with feature films representing church buildings, concrete galleries and museums including The Promise. Architect BV Doshi, a reflection into the life of Balkrishna Doshi, one of India’s most influential 20th century architects and recipient of the Pritzker Architecture Prize.

This year we will remember two good friends of the festival who are no longer with us. A retrospective 35mm screening of KINGS will remember director Tom Collins and to honour James Flynn’s contribution and legacy to the Irish film industry, the Fleadh will name the Best First Short Drama Award in his name.

We are committed to embedding and promoting equality, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) into all our activities and working practices. This year our target of a 50% gender representation has been achieved with 47% of films directed by Female Directors, 45% directed by Male Directors and 8% of our directors being a Male/Female Directing team. We have committed to representing older characters on screen and behind the camera and we have realised this commitment this year while ensuring that our film programme is diverse and inclusive.

Working with Chroma International Film Festivaland Young Irish Film Makers, the Fleadh will present a range of screenings, talks and networking to showcase diverse stories of people of colour.

The Fleadh will screen over 102 Irish and International shorts which will be in competition for the Fleadh’s Oscar® qualifying prizes. Masterclasses in Acting and Screenwriting will be led by Matthew Modine and Carol Morley, respectively.