35th Galway Film Fleadh 11-16 July 2023: Complete Program Guide for Irish Cinema

35th Galway Film Fleadh is Ireland’s leading film festival will start soon and the dates decided are from the 11th to 16th of July 2023. And We have much to cover on what to expect in this Film Festival.

Complete Program Guide for Irish Cinema with Timings and Date

We are going to cover 35th Galway Film Fleadh’s top Irish Movies and Documentaries which will be Part of the 35th Galway Film Fleadh. We will also cover its premier timings, venue, and Local Timings. Here is the Complete List:

A Greyhound of a Girl

Family animation, A Greyhound of a Girl, follows Mary (11) who has an insuppressible passion for cooking – she dreams of becoming a great chef. Her grandmother Emer, with whom she has a very special relationship, encourages her to make this dream come true. But every path has its pesky obstacles, and facing them turns into quite an adventure. Mary thus begins a journey across the barriers of time, in which four generations of women come together.

Enzo d’Alò’s animated adaptation of Roddy Doyle’s novel is a delicate coming-of-age story, sprinkled with irony. With a cast that includes Brendan Gleeson, Sharon Horgan, Rosaleen Linehan and Charlene McKenna

Director: Enzo d’Alò

Screenwriter: Enzo D’Alò, David Ingham, Roddy Doyle

Producer(s): Paul Thiltges, Adrien Chef, Xenia Douglas, Mark Cumberton, Richard Gordon, Vilnis Kalnaellis, Riina Sildos, Artur Kubiczek, Guy Collins

Cast: Brendan Gleeson, Rosaleen Linehan, Sharon Horgan, Charlene McKenna, Mia O’Connor, Paul Tylak

Screening: Sun 16/07 – Town Hall Theatre – 15:00 Runtime: 89 mins

A Passing Place

Conor King, in his feature debut, brings us across the landscape of Achill Island as we watch Lucy and Sam struggle with the environment they live in. Having grown up in London, Lucy is only just adapting to life with estranged family in the Irish countryside when a mysterious object appears in the sky.  The possibility of first contact sparks a new sense of motivation, leading her to explore the island on which she has been struggling to settle over the past few months. 

Lucy’s plans soon clash with her father’s overprotective reaction and her brother’s apparent disconnection to the appearance of the object, which has coincided with his own doubts as to whether this small, remote island is really the best home for either of them.

Director: Conor King

Screenwriter: Conor King

Producer(s): Deirdre King, Conor King

Cast: Imogen Allen, Conor King, Vincent Patrick, Brian McCarthy, Katrina Blair, Gina Burke, Shane McCarthy, Barry McNamara

Screening: Wed 12/07 – Pálás Screen 1 – 21:00 Runtime: 94 mins

Apocalypse Clown

From director George Kane, Apocalypse Clown, follows a troupe of failed clowns as they embark on a chaotic road trip of self-discovery after a mysterious solar event plunges the world into anarchy. Jenny, a conspiracy clickbait reporter, is looking for a way to broadcast the truth to the whole world. The Great Alphonso, a pompous ex-TV clown celebrity, spots his chance to resurrect his career and reclaim the fame he so craves; while Bobo, Pepe, and Funzo, desperately try to escape the wrath of some vengeful human statues. They will meet for a final clown show proving, that the end of the world can also be a funny business. 

Director: George Kane

Screenwriters: Demian Fox, George Kane, Shane O Brien, James Walmsley

Producer(s): Morgan Bushe, James Dean

Cast: David Earl, Natalie Palamides, Amy De Bhrún, Fionn Foley, Tadgh Murphy, Ivan Kaye, Pollyanna McIntosh, Tony Cantwell

Screening: Fri 14/07 – Town Hall Theatre – 21:30 Runtime: 102 mins

Ballymanus

On the 10th May 1943, something came ashore on the Ballymanus strand in rural Donegal, Ireland. The next day, nineteen people, mostly children, were dead. A generation of the small townland was lost. Calls for answers were silenced by the authorities. No one has been held accountable. The disaster is unknown outside of the close-knit community, and barely spoken of within it. Ballymanus tells the story of one of the worst tragedies in modern Irish history, through the words of the victims’ descendants and the memories of the few remaining survivors.

Director: Patrick Sharkey, Seán Doupe 

Screenwriter: Patrick Sharkey, Seán Doupe Producer: Patrick Sharkey

Screening: Fri 14/07 – Pálás Screen 1 – 15:30 Runtime: 53 mins

Ballywalter

Eileen (Seana Kerslake) is a caustic, unrepentant University drop-out whose dreams of a successful life in London have fallen by the wayside. Back at home with her mum, she makes ends meet by working as an unlicensed driver in her ex-boyfriend’s minicab.Shane (Patrick Kielty) has exiled himself in Ballywalter following the break-up of his marriage, but now he’s trying to get his life back on track by enrolling in a stand-up comedy course.

When Shane calls a taxi to get him to his classes, Eileen answers and a surprising connection is made. As the two spend time together shuttling back and forth, a beautiful friendship develops, leading both of them to a moment of realization. Shane reintegrates; Eileen makes peace with herself and who she really is. Finally, she can stop running and just drive.

Director: Prasannah Puwanarajah Screenwriter: Stacey Gregg

Producer: James Bierman, Nik Bower

Cast: Seána Kerslake, Patrick Kielty

Screening: Sun 16/07 – Pálás Screen 1 – 15:30 Runtime: 88 mins

Croíthe Radacacha

Director Ciara Hyland explores the hidden stories of eight female couples who were at the heart of the Irish Revolution that freed Ireland from the British Empire. These women’s likely lesbianism has largely remained unexamined, denied and hidden from history – until now. These women were extraordinary in the lives they lived – they were radical in their politics, in their feminism, their socialism and their devotion to freedom and equality.

In the end, many of them picked up a gun and went and fought for that freedom and equality. They suffered huge losses but ultimately lived life on their own terms – where the personal was political and their private lives were as radical as their public. This is also the story of ‘doing gay history’ – the difficulties of finding evidence of love that by necessity had to fly under the radar, the glimpses we get of how people lived in the past and the burden of proof placed on examining gay relationships. This is a documentary about ‘the love that dares not speak its name’ – found at the very heart of the Irish Revolution.

Director: Ciara Hyland

Screenwriter: Ciara Hyland

Producer: Ciara Hyland, Ann Dalton

Screening: Sat 15/07 – Pálás Screen 1 – 11:00 Runtime: 70 mins

Double Blind

Seven strangers enrol in a seemingly routine drug trial at a pharmaceutical facility, but soon discover an unexpected side effect – they are unable to fall asleep. Concerned for her patients’ safety, the supervising doctor advises the pharmaceutical representatives to stop the trial, though they are more interested in the drug’s potential on the market than the safety of some “lab rats”.  

As the drug’s effects finally begin to diminish and the participants grow tired, they realise that if they fall asleep, they will die. Chaos ensues when the facility suddenly goes into lockdown, and the participants must fight to stay awake for another 24 hours, after already being awake for almost five days straight.

Director: Ian Hunt-Duffy

Screenwriter: Ian Hunt-Duffy

Producer: Simon Doyle

Cast: Pollyanna McIntosh, Millie Brady, Abby Fitz, Shonagh Marie, Diarmuid Noeyes, Brenock O’Connor, Frank Blake, Akshay Kumar

Screening: Fri 14/07 – Town Hall Theatre – 19:00 Runtime: 90 mins

Face Down

On the 27th of December 1973, a nightmare began for an entire family.  On that night, a German businessman called Thomas Niedermayer was kidnapped from his home in Belfast.  He was never seen alive again by his friends or family. He became one of the “disappeared”, and it seemed that no-one knew what had happened to him. His wife, Ingeborg, and his daughters, Renate and Gabriele, spent the next seven years not knowing if Thomas was alive or dead.

Then, in 1980, an IRA informant led police to recover his body.  But the trauma did not end then: there were further devastating consequences for all of them. Thomas and Ingeborg’s only granddaughters, Tanya and Rachel, were told nothing of this history when they were growing up. Now, 50 years after their grandfather was kidnapped,they have embarked on a painful journey of discovery – to find out the shocking truth of what really happened half-a-century ago. 

Director: Gerry Greg

Screenwriter: Gerry Greg

Producer(s): David Blake Knox, Kelda Crawford-Mccann, Hadyn Keenan, Catherine O’Flaherty

Screening: Sat 15/07 – Town Hall Theatre -14:15 

Runtime: 85 mins

Hungry Hill

Filmed on the highest point on the Beara Peninsula in the southwest of Ireland, Hungry Hill follows the day-to-day lives of a community of sheep farmers who are in perpetual negotiation with the demands of the terrain, changing societal attitudes, and the impact of globalization. Central to the film is the story of three generations of co-director Vanmechelen’s family, who moved to Ireland from the Drowned Land of Saeftinghe in Holland/Belgium in the 1980s.

The family left their farm in the polders, due to its proximity to the Doel nuclear power station and the adverse effects of pollution coming from the pharmaceutical industry. Archival media from Belgium and Holland weaves intertextuality with footage from Hungry Hill that connects disparate times and places.

Director(s): Mieke Vanmechelen, Michael Holly Screenwriter(s): Mieke Vanmechelen, Michael Holly

Producer: Mieke Vanmechelen

Cast: n/a

Screening: Sat 15/07 – Pálás Screen 3 – 19:00 Runtime: 81 mins

I Must Away

Dennis, the film’s director, left Ireland in the midst of the financial crisis to find work abroad. Hashem was a politician in Bangladesh but had to flee for Spain after a change in government and threats on his life. Alicia left Peru for Chile, and then Chile for Spain, after falling into debt selling goods on the streets. By age 18, Ali had fled Afghanistan, Iran and Sweden, finally reaching France, where he hoped to receive asylum.

Mary, Dennis’ grandmother, and her neighbour, John, stayed in Ireland for most of their lives, and lived just a few miles from where they were born.  Floating between Ireland, Spain, Chile, Sweden, France and Bangladesh over seven years, I Must Away follows four migrants who have each left home to rebuild their lives abroad. Narrated through a series of letters from the director to his grandmother, the film is a kaleidoscopic cinema vérité essay that disentangles roots, land and identity, and explores the unequal distribution of rights and privileges in our age of migration.

Director: Dennis Harvey

Screenwriter: Dennis Harvey

Producer: Dennis Harvey

Cast: Md Abul Hashem Member, Alicia Marisol Leiva De Zapata, Alireza Naghavi & Dennis Harvey

Screening: Wed 12/07 – Pálás Screen 2 – 18:15 Runtime: 75 mins

In The Shadow of Beirut

From the makers of  Gaza  (Sundance 2019), comes a new cinematic odyssey that penetrates deep below the surface of Beirut, a still beautiful, yet deeply troubled city on the brink of financial collapse.  

In the Shadow of Beirut weaves four compelling storylines together in a searing portrait of a people and a city struggling to survive amidst some of the most difficult living conditions imaginable. In this failing state, it is the vulnerable who suffer most.  

This is a nation suffering one of the worst global financial meltdowns on record, a country and a city that many now are trying desperately to flee. 

Director: Stephen Gerard Kelly, Garry Keane Screenwriter: Stephen Gerard Kelly, Garry Keane Producer: Brendan Byrne, Myriam Sassine, Alison Toomey, Christian Beetz

Cast: Abeed Family , Kujeyje Family , Daher Family , Aboodi Ziyani

Screening: Fri 14/07 – Town Hall Theatre – 14:00 Runtime: 92 mins

Its A Fine Thing To Sing

When singers Ian Lynch (Lankum), Ye Vagabonds and The Henry Girls are invited to create their own interpretations of songs from the Inishowen Song Project, the audience is invited into a vast collection of local singers and songs, documented over 40 years from within the community itself. Framed within the stunning landscape of the area, these new performances, atmospheric archival recordings, and interviews with key community figures, demonstrate how songs pass from singer to singer, while also examining the question of why we sing.

Director: Bob Gallagher

Screenwriter: Bob Gallagher

Producer: Robert Gallagher

Cast: Ian Lynch, Brían Mac Gloinn, Diarmuid Mac Gloinn, Lorna Mclaughlin, Karen Mclaughlin, Joleen Mclaughlin

Screening: Sat 15/07 – Pálás Screen 1 – 15:30 Runtime: 60 mins

John Behan – Odyssey

John Behan Rha is Ireland’s best-known living sculptor. He is as busy as ever in his early 80s, with regular exhibitions in Ireland and abroad. In addition to this heavy workload, he feels so strongly about the suffering of refugees around the world that, for a number of years before Covid, he travelled to Athens to volunteer at Camp Eleonas, a state-run centre for migrants, and delivered art workshops to adults.   

His artistic practice has always dealt with displacement of people and emigration, and the most celebrated example of his public sculpture is the National Famine Memorial at Murrisk, near Westport.  

 Although the documentary is not a conventional profile, as we observe him at work in Greece, we flash back to archive footage, as he tells the story of his life in his own words. 

Director: Donald Taylor Black

Screenwriter: Donald Taylor Black

Producer: Donald Taylor Black, Eavan Mulligan Cast: John Behan

Screening: Thur 13/07 – Town Hall Theatre – 16:30 Runtime: 75 mins

Kings

Five immigrants from the Connemara Gaeltacht are confronted with the poverty of their lives in London when their friend Jackie is found dead on a railway line. Colm Meany, Donal O Kelly, Brendan Conroy, Barry Barnes and Donncha Crowley animate this unflinchingly bleak portrait of Irish emigrant experience – Ireland’s choice for Best Foreign Language Film at the Academy Awards (2008).  

Screening in tribute to Tom Collins, a much-missed pillar of the Irish film community.

Director: Tom Collins

Screenwriter: Tom Collins

Producer: Jackie Larkin

Cast: Colm Meaney, Donal O’Kelly, Brendan Conroy, Donncha Crowley

Screening: Thur 13/07 – Pálás Screen 1 -17:15

Runtime: 88 mins

Lie of the Land

A tense drama unfolds in this first feature from Director John Carlin. As the Wards prepare to abandon their lives, escaping a dire financial situation, a last-minute change of heart leaves them fighting for survival. 

After her mother’s death, ageing farming couple Kath and Matthew decide to run from the crippling debt that is anchored around their smallholding, to find a new life in the sun. Their ticket to paradise comes via Shepherd, a mysterious stranger who promises safe passage away from all their problems for a fee. On the departure day, the couple change their minds. An angered Shepherd turns violent, and a deadly game of cat and mouse plays out around the farmhouse and its outbuildings.

Director: John Carlin

Screenwriter: John Carlin

Producer: Chris Patterson, Margaret McGoldrick

Cast: Nigel O’Neill, Ali White, Barry John Kinsella, Abe Smyth, Paddy Jenkins

Screening: Sat 15/07 – Town Hall Theatre – 19:00 Runtime: 80 mins

Lies We Tell

Director Lisa Mulcahy takes the helm for this contained psychological thriller about a gaslit girl’s break for freedom. In an isolated manor, Maud, an orphaned heiress must fight her guardian for her inheritance – and her life. Stripped-down, gritty, and all-too-contemporary: this is not a frocks-and-bonnets period picture but a taut, propulsive, fight to the death. 

With a cast that includes Agnes O’Casey, David Wilmot, Holly Sturton and Chris Walley.  Lies We Tell is produced by Ruth Carter of Blue Ink Films with backing from Fís Éireann / Screen Ireland. 

Director: Lisa Mulcahy

Screenwriter: Lisa Mulcahy

Producer: Ruth Carter

Cast: Agnes O’Casey, David Wilmot, Chris Walley, Holly Sturton

Screening: Sat 15/07 – Town Hall Theatre – 21:30 Runtime: 89 mins

Made in Dublin

In a city of countless stories, lives collide, and destinies intertwine. A wannabe actor, down on his luck, waiting tables, is desperate for his big break. He borrows money from notorious loan sharks to care for his ailing mother, who he regales with stories of his fictional glittering acting career. 

A washed-up and strung-out movie director, unwanted by Hollywood and his beautiful ‘A-list’ wife. A lonely drag queen ready to trust again – to love and be loved. And a femme fatal working through her ‘daddy issues’ in her own unique way. All set on a course of destruction and all heading each other’s way

Director: Jack Armstrong

Screenwriter: Jack Armstrong

Producer: Melissa Lawlor

Cast: Stuart Cullen, Paudge Behan, Maya O’Shea, Jonathan Delaney Tynan, Maria Branagan, Eon Grey, Judy Donovan, Andrew Kingston, Valerie Armstrong, Emily Godson, Ian Molloy, Terence Christle

Screening: Sat 15/07 – Town Hall Theatre -16:30

Runtime: 102 mins

Much Ado About Dying

Director Simon Chambers has gone to India to make a film about cars. But suddenly his British uncle David calls to say he’s dying. When the nephew heads back to England, it turns out the uncle is more dramatic than dying. Uncle David is, in fact, a closeted old theatre actor who trips around half-naked in his mess of a home quoting Shakespeare.

While he’s at it, his nephew Simon turns on his camera and starts filming his old uncle for a movie worthy of a Shakespearean play. Every time you think the story is falling into place, it ties itself in a new dramatic knot, creating terrific cinematic moments where you can’t help but surrender and let your emotions flow.

Director: Simon Chambers

Screenwriter: Simon Chambers

Producer(s): Simon Chambers & David Rane

Screening: Wed 12/07 – Pálás Screen 3 – 16:00 Runtime: 84 mins

My Lost Russian Mother

An intimate tale of secrets and lies, family and ethnicity and one young man’s odyssey from America to Russia, searching for his birth mother. Irish filmmaker Sam Jones, in his first feature documentary, follows US citizen Gabe, who is trying to trace the mother he and his sister were taken from. What he finds is not the loving parent he hoped for.

Director: Sam Jones

Screenwriter: Sam Jones

Producer(s): Nuala Cunningham, Ciaran O’Connor

Screening: Fri 14/07 – Pálás Screen 3 – 18:00 Runtime: 86 mins

Nightman

Damian and his pregnant wife move into an isolated house in Ireland. As things get tense with the locals, mysterious murders begin to occur. His wife soon realises that Damian may be a dangerous sleepwalker, and it makes her wonder who her husband really is.

Director: Mélanie Delloye

Screenwriter: Mélanie Delloye

Producer(s): Noor Sadar, Sébastien Delloye, François Touwaide

Cast: Mark Huberman, Eoin Duffy, Áine Ní Laoghaire, Zara Devlin

Screening: Fri 14/07 – Pálás Screen 1 – 22:15 Runtime: 101 mins

Notes From Sheepland 

Notes from Sheepland’ follows lipstick wearing, always swearing, no nonsense, artist and shepherd, Orla Barry. Through her fields, her digital diaries, and the pedigree sheep she cares for, we discover how the art is in the doing. “Notes from Sheepland has a streak of light, playful wit. There is also something of a lament about the film. What happens in this shepherd’s little corner of Ireland becomes a reflection of global events and challenges for everyone.” Screen Daily

Director: Cara Holmes

Screenwriter: Cara Holmes

Producer(s): Cara Holmes & Nuala Cunningham Cast: Orla Barry

Screening: Sun 16/07 – Pálás Screen 3 – 12:00 Runtime: 70 mins

Ó Bhéal

Ó Bhéal is a cinematic exploration of the rise of hip hop and electronic artists in Ireland, embracing oral traditions of folklore, ancient poetry and sean-nós singing to create a new fusion sound, a culture clash through music. An ensemble piece, featuring Irish-language rappers Seán ‘Mory’ Ó Muirgheasa and Oisín Mac, producer and multi-instrumentalist Fehdah, and Limerick rapper Strange Boy.  

This beautiful black & white film delves deep into these four artists’ process and how they are breaking new ground in Irish music. Through insightful interviews, intimate portrayals of the creative process of each artist as they work on tracks in studio, and visceral live performances, Ó Bhéal tells the story of a moment in time in the Irish musical landscape.

Director: Ciara Nic Chormaic

Screenwriter: Ciara Nic Chormaic

Producer: Jennifer Healy

Cast: Strange Boy , Fehdah , Mory , Oisín Mac

Screening: Fri 14/07 – Pálás Screen 1 – 20:30 Runtime: 68 mins

Reefer and the Model

Joe Comerford’s signature sharp realism infuses this darkly entertaining comedy-thriller about ex-IRA man Reefer (Ian McElhinney), Teresa (Carol Scanlan) a pregnant woman trying to overcome a drug addiction, Spider (Sean Lawlor) and Badger (Ray McBride), an unlikely quartet who live aboard a trawler on the Galway coast.  

This 2023 Director’s Cut has been restored through the IFI and Screen Ireland Digitisation Project. Presented by the Irish Film Institute.

Director: Joe Comerford

Screenwriter: Joe Comerford

Producer: Leila Doolan

Cast: Ian Mclhinney, Carol Moore, Sean Lawlor

Screening: Sun 16/07 – Pálás Screen 3 – 16:00 Runtime: 88 mins

Somebody

Somebody is an introspective take on modern life in Ireland and the different intergenerational challenges that women face. The protagonist continuously faces adversity because of her unwillingness to acquiesce to the pantomime of society. She suffers because she does not engage in her mother’s games, she doesn’t encourage her landlord’s pursuit of her, and she fails to put up an effective facade for work. Her unwillingness to participate in society’s games and conform to its norms causes her to face individual and undeserving challenges and, ultimately, she is unable to overcome.

Director: Dave Byrne

Screenwriter: Dave Byrne

Producer: Liz Kenny

Cast: Jess McLaughlin, Anne Mc Crudden, Donal Hurley

Screening: Fri 14/07 – Pálás Screen 1 – 13:30 Runtime: 57 mins

Songs of Blood and Destiny

The filmmaker takes the semi-autobiographic words of Marina Carr’s poem “iGirl” as if they were her own, encouraging the actors and the audience to do the same.    

Using a personal visual language, the filmmaker mirrors the slippery nature of Carr’s work, fire, earth, air, water, crash and bump, contradictory truths told by a dynamic troupe of actors, banging on the fourth wall.   

Visuals untangle, re-tangle in multi-layered collages to augment performances of Eileen Walsh, Cathy Belton, Brian Gleeson, Brian Quinn and new-comers Ella Lilly Hyland and Holly Sturton.    

The present-day narrator is curious, funny, but unforgiving, evoking voices, past and future; Joan of Arc, the warrior, Antigone, the truth teller, the incestuous Jocasta, and her son Oedipus, mirrors Homo Sapien tragic fate of their own making. 

Reverberations in contemporary messy domesticity, the extinction of the Neanderthals, the potential extinction of the planet and ourselves, driven by the very desire to avoid it, fuelled by sci-fi fantasies of somewhere better in the beyond, and transhumans of the future.

Director: Trish McAdam

Screenwriter: Trish McAdam

Producer(s): Trish Mcadam, Cliona Maher

Cast: Eileen Walsh, Holly Sturton, Ella Lily Hyland, Brian Gleeson, Cathy Belton Sturton, Brian Quinn

Screening: Sat 15/07 – Pálás Screen 3 – 16:30 Runtime: 137 mins

Stolen

Described by Screen as “essential viewing for Irish society”. Stolen reveals how women who had the misfortune to fall pregnant ‘out of wedlock’ were treated in an Ireland that was heavily influenced by the Catholic Church. Over 80,000 unmarried mothers were incarcerated in mother and baby institutions run by nuns from 1922 to 1998. Most were cruelly separated from their babies after birth.

Many of the children were adopted within Ireland and abroad – rendered untraceable and unaware of their birth story. Others were fostered as cheap farm labour from the age of six, often in circumstances abysmally devoid of care and love. 9,000 infants died in these institutions from 1922 to 1998, a rate that, on occasion, was five times the national average infant mortality rate. Survivors expose the shocking details of their treatment in a scandal that sparked a government inquiry into the fate of unmarried women who fell pregnant in 20th-century Ireland.

Director: Margo Harkin

Screenwriter: Margo Harkin

Producer: Martha O’Neill

Cast: n/a

Screening: Wed 12/07 – Town Hall Theatre -16:00

Runtime: 106 mins

The Fires

Having lived illegally in Canada for the past eight years, Danny Gallagher returns to his family home in rural Donegal. While restoring the house to a lived-in state, Danny spends his days isolated, seeking to make sense of the bruises left by his past by recording an audio tape for a person he no longer knows. Only when the tape is finished and the house is cleared can he finally move on to whatever his future has in store for him.

Director: Andrew Thomas

Screenwriter: Andrew Thomas

Producer: Andrew Thomas, Sarah Mc Evoy, Kevin Cawley

Cast: Oisín Porter, Áine Flanagan, Cillian Browne, Lola Claire

Screening: Thur 13/07 – Town Hall Theatre -14:00

Runtime: 90 mins

The Graceless Age – The Ballad of John Murry

This is the story of American singer songwriter John Murry who was on the cusp of greatness after the release of his highly acclaimed album The Graceless Age (2013) when his world fell apart. Addicted to heroin, creatively exhausted, he washed up on the shores of Ireland a broken man. Now, he is ready to retrace his steps back to Mississippi into the dark heart of American life and face his demons – a difficult childhood, traumatic assault and resulting years of opioid addiction.

This documentary follows John as he embarks on a road trip that takes him from his haven on the cliffs of County Clare, Ireland to his native Mississippi. The film culminates with John travelling to Toronto to rekindle his creative collaboration with Canadian music legend Mike Timmins, who produced his album A Short History of Decay. Mike helps John express himself the best way he can – through his outstanding music.This beautiful documentary charts his journey from near death to redemption and a new zest for life and art.

Director: Sarah Share

Screenwriter: Sarah Share

Producer: Nuala Cunningham, John Galway, Aeschylus Poulos

Cast: n/a

Screening: Fri 15/07 – Pálás Screen 1 – 20:30 Runtime: 90

The Martini Shot

From Director Stephen Wallis, The Martini Shot follows ailing movie director Steve, played by bona fide Hollywood actor Matthew Modine, as he begins to shoot what he believes to be his final work of art. What starts out as a normal movie, ends up being an exploration of mortality and one’s profound effect on the world. Filmed in Ireland, this existential drama has an abundantly rich cast including John Cleese, Derek Jacobi, Stuart Townsend and Fiona Glascott.  Modine described the film as a “love story between creation and those people who create”.

Director: Stephen Wallis

Screenwriter: Stephen Wallis

Producer(s): Emma Owen, Stephen Wallis, Michael Godfrey, Susan Ilott

Cast: Matthew Modine, John Cleese, Stuart Townsend, Fiona Glascott, Morgana Robinson, Derek Jacobi, Jason London

Screening: Thur 13/07 – Town Hall Theatre -21:30

Runtime: 85 mins

The Miracle Club

Lourdes, a picturesque country town at the base of the magnificent French Pyrenees, and a place of miracles, is a magnet for 6 million visitors each year from across the globe. Ballygar, Ireland, 1968: a hilariously hard-knocks community in outer Dublin. It’s a thriving community in a constant uphill battle to live as fully as possible, on very little.

There’s just one tantalising dream for the women of Ballygar: to win a pilgrimage to the sacred French town of Lourdes. And with a little benevolent interference from their local community and a sparkly-eyed priest, close friends Lilt, Eileen, and Dolly get their ticket of a lifetime after the riotous church talent competition.   

Having never even left Dublin, the journey provides our heroines the chance to let their hair down, celebrate life and delight in some sweet independence. 

Director: Thaddeus O’Sullivan

Screenwriter(s): Jimmy Smallhorne, Timothy Prager, Joshua D. Maurer

Producer(s): Chris Curling, Joshua D. Maurer, Alixandre Witlin, Larry Bass, Aaron Farrell, John Gleeson & Oisin O’Neil

Cast: Laura Linney, Kathy Bates and Maggie Smith, Agnes O’Casey, Mark O’Halloran, Mark McKenna, Niall Buggy, Hazel Doupe and Stephen Rea

Screening: Tue 11/07 – Town Hall Theatre – 19:00 Runtime: 91 mins

The Skids: Revolution

Three choices: coal mine, dockyard, army. But not if you rebelled.  Scottish Punk band The Skids came from 1970s’ industrial Scotland. From their working-class beginnings in the town of Dunfermline they were catapulted to the heights of fame, bringing an authentic voice to the Punk movement.  The Skids: Revolution follows the story of the band through ups and downs, from politically turbulent origins through to their comeback in 2016.   The voice of Punk never died and is angrier than ever.

Director(s): Colin J Graham, Laura Graham Screenwriter(s): Colin J Graham, Laura Graham Producer: Laura Graham, Colin Graham

Cast: n/a

Screening: Thur 13/07 – Pálás Screen 1 – 22:30 Runtime: 76 mins

Verdigris

Trapped in a marriage with a volatile and controlling husband, recently retired Marian takes on a secret part-time job as a census enumerator. The job is no picnic – on her tough inner-city route, she faces dismissive and abusive locals who flatly refuse to engage in the census.

This includes brash and no-nonsense teenager Jewel, who Marian soon realises is living alone with no obvious means of supporting herself. Marian finds herself striking a deal with Jewel – she won’t report her to the authorities if Jewel helps her get the locals to fill out their census forms. As they walk the streets of Dublin and an unlikely friendship blooms, Jewel’s frank advice brings Marian to a realisation – it’s time to get out of her abusive marriage once and for all. But will she have the strength to face this unknown future?

Director: Patricia Kelly

Screenwriter: Patricia Kelly

Producer: Paul Fitzsimons, Patricia Kelly Cast: Geraldine McAlinden, Maya O’Shea, Michael James Ford, Killian Filan, Andrew Kingston

Screening: Fri 14/07 – Town Hall Theatre – 16:30 Runtime: 95 mins

Viva Mary

Mary is 90 and is blessed with an unquenchable zest for life. This feel-good film reveals her myriad of roles: dotting grandmother, inspirational mother, caring friend, coquettish singleton, sailor on the high seas, consummate musician, proud emigrant, and hilarious seanchaí. This is an eloquent portrait of a strong woman, and an equally poignant portrait of the changing place of women in Ireland.

Director: Cathal Ó Cuaig

Screenwriter: Cathal Ó Cuaig

Producer: Cathal Ó Cuaig

Cast: n/a

Screening: Wed 12/07 – Pálás Screen 1 – 11:00 Runtime: 52 mins

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Who Would Jesus Bomb?

Around 3 million US troops have gone through Ireland’s Shannon Airport since 2002. Who Would Jesus Bomb? explores Ireland’s complicity in the global War on Terror, and how a small number of Christian activists risked their freedom trying to stop the American war machine and save lives. 20 years on from the disastrous US-led invasion of Iraq, this film aims to raise important questions about Irish neutrality, spark debate about forms of activism, and challenge what it means to be a Christian.

Director: Emmet Sheerin

Screenwriter: Emmet Sheerin

Producer: Emmet Sheerin

Cast: n/a

Screening: Wed 12/07 – Town Hall Theatre -14:00

Runtime: 52 mins

35th Galway Film Fleadh Official Website

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