WHILE THERE is no shortage of female filmmakers, there is often a lack of support and recognition for their work. With this in mind, the 2014 Galway Film Fleadh will screen an unprecedented number of films by women directors.
New work featuring at this year’s festival include Butter on the Latch (IMC, Thursday 10, 6.15pm ) and Thou Wast Mild and Lovely (IMC, Friday 11, 8.15pm ), the first two features by rising American Independent filmmaker Josephine Decker; and Pegi Veil’s eco-tourism doc Gringo Trails (Cinemobile, Friday 11, 6pm ).
There will also be Aoife Kelleher’s documentary One Million Dubliners, about Glasnevin cemetery (Town Hall Theatre, Saturday 12, 4pm ); the world premiere of Stéphanie Joalland’s The Quiet Hour (IMC, Saturday 12, 5pm ); Maya Vitkova’s stunning debut Viktoria (IMC, Saturday 12, 6.15pm ); Gillian Robespierre’s edgy rom-com Obvious Child, starring Parks and Recreation’s Jenny Slate (IMC, Saturday 12, 9.15pm ); and Cecilia Peck’s Brave Miss World.
The fleadh will also host a ‘secret midnight screening’ of a new Irish art film at midnight on Friday with free admission. The film is by a prominent female Irish director and pays homage to the life and work of a female Irish artist.
On Sunday at 2pm in the Town Hall Theatre, there will be a Women in Film and Television Ireland open conversation entitled Why not 50/50? or Why can’t a woman be more like a man?!.
The talk will be chaired by Rachel Lysaght of Underground Films and the chair of Women in Film and Television Ireland; and the participants include Katie Holly, managing director of Blinder Films and board member of the Irish Film Board; Virginia Gilbert, director of A Long Way From Home; and director Josephine Decker. Admission is free.
For more information and tickets see www.galwayfilmfleadh.com
