ACCLAIMED FRENCH and German films, Galway made shorts, and workshops in radio and digital animation are all part of this year’s Junior Galway Film Fleadh, which runs from Wednesday November 11 to Saturday 14 in the Town Hall Theatre.
One of the highlights of the programme is the awarding-winning French film The Class (2008 ), about a young teacher’s efforts to inspire a multiracial group of teenagers in an inner city Paris school.
Engrossing and absorbing, The Class looks and feels like a fly-on-the-wall documentary with highly naturalistic performances from the teenagers and leading man François Bégaudeau, on whose book, Entre Les Murs, the film is based. See it on Wednesday 11.
Also screening will be the German feature The Counterfeiters, set in Nazi annexed Austria. It asks what is the value of money and the worth of human life in a time of war. The closing film on Saturday 14 at 12 noon is a special preview of the animated feature Spirit of the Forest, voiced by Anjelica Huston.
Documentaries at this year’s fleadh include The Cove, a thriller-like documentary about dolphin slaughter in Japan. This year’s Shakespearean film is King Lear (Leaving Cert 2009 ), starring Ian McKellan. Adventures in Irish is an initiative aimed at making the Irish language more accessible to third level students and will include a short documentary Peadairin na Stoirme (which will be introduced by the director ) and two new contemporary shorts – Féileachán and Nollaig Shona.
The fleadh will also screen short films from Trading Faces Stage School in Galway; The Mercy Covent, Newtownsmith; St Raphael’s Loughrea; and Scoil Bhride, Shantalla; animation from award winning artist John Jennings; and work by The Galway Film Centre.
Workshops this year include Acting for the Screen with Seamus Moran (Fair City ) and a digital laptop animation workshop with Galway based award-winning animator John Jennings. Galway Bay FM’s Garry Kelly will give a radio production workshop. There will also be the annual Lunchbox Animation Workshop with Edith Pieperhoff.
The Career Talks event at the fleadh will cover directing with Pat Comer (In The Name Of The Fada ), editing with Eileen Lauster, and script development and camera work.
The second annual Story Pitching Competition takes place on Thursday November 12. Entry forms are available from through www.galwayfilmfleadh.com/junior
For more information and bookings contact
091 - 751655.
