A documentary chronicling US president John F Kennedy’s momentous visit to Galway in 1963 will feature at upcoming film festivals in Dublin and Cannes.
'The Three Miles' by Galway filmmaker Pamela Finn recounts JFK’s 90-minute, three mile open-top cavalcade from his arrival in the Sportsground on College Road, to Eyre Square, and on to Salthill where he was collected by helicopter. “Only Spartans” would swim Galway Bay, the grandson of Irish immigrants is reported as quipping to Irish president Éamon de Valera on a chilly June day by the Prom.
The 20-minute doc has been listed in the upcoming Dublin International Short Film and Music Festival this month, Pennsylvania’s Red Rose Film Festival in November, and the Cannes World Film Festival next April.
Finn, who recently won Best Director at the Washington DC International Cinema Festival, says she is hoping the documentary will get another run in Galway city after well-attended screenings in the Pálás and Galway City Museum over the summer. The Galway native is also in negotiation with Aer Lingus to have the short film available for in-flight entertainment on transatlantic flights.
Five months after visiting Galway, JFK was assassinated in another city procession through Dallas, Texas.
“I want to express – as we are about to leave here – to you of this country how much this visit has meant. It is strange that so many years could pass and so many generations pass and still some of us who came on this trip could come home and – here to Ireland – and feel ourselves at home and not feel ourselves in a strange country, but feel ourselves among neighbours, even though we are separated by generations, by time, and by thousands of miles.” – JFK speaking at Eyre Square, June 1963.
The JFK documentary is available to view at www.jfkTheThreeMiles.com for €5.99.
