A scene from Good Vibrations.
THE GALWAY Film Fleadh has always supported Irish film, but this year’s festival, which runs from July 10 to 15, features an abundance of new Irish movies, including 13 world premieres, seven European premieres, and seven Irish premieres.
The fleadh opens with Irish/British comedy-horror Grabbers, in the Town Hall Theatre on Tuesday July 10. Starring Richard Coyle (Prince of Persia ), Lisa Nolan (The Clinic ), Russell Tovey (Being Human, Sherlock, Gavin & Stacey ) and Bronagh Gallagher (The Commitments, Pulp Fiction ), it is set in a fishing village where something nasty is lurking.
Of keen interest to Galway audiences is Songs for Amy (Town Hall, Wednesday 11, 9pm ) a darkly comedic love story that follows the journey of tormented Galway musician Sean O’Malley who writes an album about Amy, the girl he was supposed to marry, in an attempt to redeem himself and his bad ways. The film features music by Loughrea singer-songwriter Ultan Conlon and watch out for appearances by Patrick Bergin and Alabama 3.
Among the other Irish film highlights are Babygirl (Town Hall, Thursday 12, 7pm ), set in the Bronx, sees Lena (Yainis Ynoa ) set out to expose an older man, Victor, who is acting inappropriately around her.
The Rafters (Town Hall, Thursday 12, 11pm ) is a supernatural drama, set in The Aran Islands, about a young woman who is literally and metaphorically haunted by her past.
Jump (Town Hall, Friday 13, 7pm ) follows the lives of four twenty-somethings whose lives collide one fateful New Year’s Eve amidst the ancient walls of Derry.
Horror film Citadel (Town Hall, Friday 13, 11pm ) centres on Tommy Cowley, whose wife was fatally attacked by the feral children who now terrorise him. With the help of an understanding nurse and a vigilante priest, he resolves to face his fears.
King Of The Travellers (Town Hall, Saturday 14, 7pm ) follows John Paul Moorehouse on his destructive quest to uncover the truth about his father’s killer. In this film Travellers were cast to play the Traveller roles, many of whom had never acted before.
Music fans have much to look forward to at this year’s fleadh with Good Vibrations and The Swell Season.
The Swell Season (Town Hall, Wednesday 11, 11pm ) looks at the relationship between Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová post-their Oscar win for Once. Filmed in black and white, this documentary is an intimate look at the exhilaration and turmoil created by love and fame.
Good Vibrations was the name of a record store and record label run by Belfastman Terri Hooley in the late 1970s. It was the label that gave The Undertones and Stiff Little Fingers their start and encouraged a generation of Protestant and Roman Catholic youths to cross the sectarian divide and join together under the banner of the punk movement.
Good Vibrations (Town Hall, Saturday 14, 9pm ), co-written by the distinguished Irish novelist Glenn Patterson, celebrates Terri Hooley and his friends as they try to create an ‘Alternative Ulster’. The film stars Richard Dormer, Jodie Whittaker, Liam Cunningham, Adrian Dunbar, and Dylan Moran.