Film Fleadh with common touch weaves a magic spell

In theory, it probably should not even work. A city with a population of just over 75,000 people, which has yet to see the completion of its own art house cinema, somehow manages to transform itself into a major hub of European and world cinema for six days each July.

Professionals attending bigger, glitzier festivals in Cannes and Berlin talk with bated breath about the delights on offer at the Galway Film Fleadh, which celebrates its 25th birthday next month. There are no red carpet premieres, but Hollywood professionals love the way they can rub shoulders with amateur enthusiasts and ordinary film fans over a few drinks at the famed Festival Club at the Galway Rowing Club.

For six days and nights, the Town Hall Theatre is packed with people attending screenings of documentaries, features, and shorts from all over the world. Every year the festival manages to unearth a few new gems while established global stars enjoy the informal atmosphere around an event which has grown enormously, but still manages to retain an intimate feel.

“The Fleadh has maintained its ethos over the last 25 years, which is that we want to be small, not in terms of the scale of the event, but we want to be intimate and informal. The Rowing Club is the festival club. There isn’t an ‘us and them’. Everybody is mixing and mingling. It’s so informal and relaxed, I think that kind of reflects the city of Galway itself,” says Managing Director Miriam Allen.

She believes it’s a huge bonus for the festival not to have a red carpet or glittering, champagne-fuelled launches. Film people from all over Europe and North America love to contrast the six days of mayhem in Galway with the glitz and glamour of Cannes.

Last year, there seemed to be one standing ovation after another at the Town Hall. Programmer Gar O’Brien gave world premieres to Pilgrim Hill, set in rural Kerry; Good Vibrations, a celebration of the Belfast punk scene during The Troubles; another Northern Irish film called Jump, and King of the Travellers. Each of them delighted capacity audiences as the Film Fleadh became a launch pad to greater things.

Irish film-makers now aim to finish their work in time for the Fleadh. It was the festival which gave Dublin film Once its first screening before it went on to win an Academy Award, the place where Garage featuring Pat Shortt was first shown to an audience, and where The Guard (starring Brendan Gleeson) received a rapturous reception after being filmed in the West of Ireland.

There have also been premieres for some brilliant documentaries down through the years. Richie O Domhnaill’s The Pipe (about the ‘Shell to Sea’ protests in Mayo) and the Oscar nominated Five Broken Cameras, set in an occupied Palestinian village, were both screened to Irish audiences for the first time at the Town Hall and both received standing ovations at the Fleadh.

Since its humble beginnings back in 1988, the Fleadh has always aimed to encourage new Irish talent. There was no Irish Film Board back then, the screenings took place in the ramshackle Claddagh Palace on the way to Salthill, and the Festival club was in a tent nearby. It just seemed to ‘click’ perfectly into place and the Galway bash became an annual pilgrimage for hundreds of committed film fans.

“The thing I like about the atmosphere around the Town Hall is that if you want to dress up, you can do that,” says Gar. “There’s such a great buzz and atmosphere outside, the whole thing is so informal, with all walks of life there. It’s a huge draw for us. Cannes is one thing, but people come here knowing it’s going to be so much more relaxed and informal, and that they can get some business done.”

Miriam and Gar both went to Dublin for a private screening of Pilgrim Hill with young Kerry director Ger Barrett last year. Barrett borrowed money from his local credit union to complete the film. There were only six people at the screening, including Ger’s parents and the local parish priest, and they were all in tears afterwards. It has given Miriam and Gar a huge lift to see Barrett’s career take off since the first public screening in Galway last year.

“We’ve always had a kind of punk rock or DIY ethos,” says Gar. “I think Pilgrim Hill was really satisfying for us, to see it not only getting a general release across Ireland, but the progress Ger has made, the people he has met. The way he’s been picked up internationally. That’s something we picked out. It all came from the Fleadh. For it to just to explode and his talent to be recognised since that first screening, that’s just an amazing part of the job!”

For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.