Dingle Film Festival

Dingle Peninsula

2010-12-22T13:05:00.002Z

Despite the weather planning for the March Festival continues.................

Photo by Harris Moore

Top Ten Films of 2010

2010-12-21T18:33:00.003Z

My top ten for 2010. Its a hard call as there are some great films that did not make it here to Kerry and I'm sure they are great, however below is based on what I got to see and what I can remember.

The Prophet, this is great cinema, so imaginative! We screened this in the Cinemobile at Dingle last March.

The Red Shoes, I saw this in Cannes when it was launched by Scorsese in 2009, it is simply a visual and emotional feast.

Inception, cracking good fun, I have enjoyed it again on DVD, Christopher Nolan is one of the greats out there.

Toy Story 3, this is a great story, so well told, no.3 in the series but just as good as the first installment.

The Town, may have been similar to Michael Mann's Heat, certainly not as good but a great film and again Ben Affleck proves himself as an excellent director.

Iron Man 2, whats not to like, real good fun and Mickey Rourke was a great villain.

A Single Man, Tom Fords first direction, the pace and look of the film were both exceptional and Colin Firth plays the part really well. Also some great use of saturating colour to tell a feeling and mood, very cool.

Crazy Heart, well one of my favorite actors Jeff Bridges, he will star in the Cohen's True Grit due here in January. Tron is not getting the best of reviews.

The Illusionist, looked sublime, it was wonderful to see London and Edinburgh depicted in such detailed animation.

Mugabe and the White African which we screened last March will always stay with me, a shocking story.

2 great Irish docs on the way from Sé Merry Doyle in 2011, Non-Alien & Dreaming The Quiet Man. Non-Alien will play in Dingle in March.

Great docs coming or just out which I saw at some festivals include: Brenda Belili, Catfish, Upside Down Story; The Story of Creation Records and Lemmy.

Lots of great films coming to the Festival in March - hope to see you there

Nollaig Shona agus Athbhliain faoi mhaise daoibh go léir

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you all

Jean-Jacque Beineix comes to Dingle

2010-12-12T15:38:00.005Z

Betty Blue Director comes to Dingle

Dingle Film Festival in Partnership with Media Desk Ireland present
Contemporary Vision in European Cinema: Style and Content

The Dingle Film Festival is proud to announce, in partnership with Media Desk Ireland, that French film director Jean-Jacques Beineix will be a special guest of the festival in March 2011. Jean-Jacques Beineix will visit Dingle, Co Kerry as part of an exciting panel of film directors the festival and Media Desk are putting together to explore Contemporary Vision in European Cinema: Style & Content. The panel discussion will focus on creativity. Each director will be represented at the festival with a screening of their work.

With his intense focus on the power of images, Beineix paved the way for directors like Luc Besson, Leos Carax and Jean-Pierre Jeunet. A self-proclaimed misanthropist who never hid his contempt for producers and was often deemed excessive and irascible, he will go down in history as a director who raised controversy not for the subjects he tackled but for his stylistic approach. With Diva and Betty Blue, he directed two seminal French films of the 1980s that engaged a worldwide audience.

Beineix began his career working with major French directors including Claude Berri and René Clément and even Jerry Lewis. He created the 'new New Wave' of french cinema and influenced directors all over the world in 1981 with his debute feature, a the romantic thriller Diva. Surprisingly, Diva received a poor reception when it was first released and it was not until almost a year later at the Toronto Film Festival that it received a standing ovation, and went on to major success in the US winning four Cesar Awards including Best First Feature. Diva has been described by critics as "…brilliant, a visual extravaganza..", "Divine Madness.." and: "A thriller with a new way of looking at the world".

In 1983 Beineix directed The Moon in the Gutter starring two big names in European cinema: Gerard Depardieu and Natassia Kinsk, Beiniex filmed Cinecitta on a huge stage with a major budget and in great company: Sergio Leone was shooting Once Upon a Time in America on one side and Fellini And the Ships Sails On on the other.

In 1986 International success returned with the wonderful 37°2 le matin (Betty Blue), which was nominated for nine Cesars, a Best Foreign Oscar, and a Golden Globe, and was awarded the top prize at Montréal. Undoubtably, Betty Blue defines a generation, descibed by the crits as "feverish tale of amour fou….", "A sexually explicite tale of a crazy love", " …infinitely delecable" , "An extraordinarily sensual movie" and "A Masterpiece". Beineix then went on to produce the director's cut of the film some years later, which is three hours in duration.

In 1989, Beineix directed Roselyne et les lions (Roselyn and the Lions) followed in 1992, by IP5, which gained popularity as French actor Yves Montand's last role.

Beineix then resurfaced where he was least expected: directing with social documentaries. He did made a film about children in Romania; one on obsession, Otaku, shot in Japan concerning Japanese youth who are obsessed with action figures and video games, and a piece for television about on French magazine editor, Jean-Dominique Bauby. This piece, Locked-In syndrome, Assigné á residence, was later dramised in Julian Schnabel's The Diving Bell and the Butterfly.

Jean-Jacques Beineix created his own production company in 1984, Cargo Films, in order to keep artistic independence. In 2006 he published the first volume of his autobiography, Les Chantiers de la gloire published in French only. This title clearly alludes to the French title of Stanley Kubrick's film, Les Sentiers de la gloire (Paths of Glory). Additionally, Beineix is a painter, with several works available to view on his website www.cargofilms.com

Contemporary Vision in European Cinema: Style & Content will take place at the 5th Dingle Film Festival which will open on St. Patrick's Day 2011.

The festival, located on the beautiful Dingle Peninsula, overlooking the Atlantic Ocean, once cited as 'the most beautiful place on Earth' by National Geographic. The Festival is also home to The Gregory Peck Award. Recipients of The Award have included 2-time Oscar nominated, Stephen Frears, 6-time Oscar nominated, Jim Sheridan and Golden Globe winner, Gabriel Byrne. Other guests who have participated in the festival include: actor Cillian Murphy, 2-time Oscar nominated, director Sir Alan Parker, Garrett Brown - inventor of the Stedicam, 2-time Oscar winner, sound artist Tom Johnson, 2-time Oscar winner Barbara Kopple; producer Ned Dowd, and Oscar nominated actresses Sarah Miles and Saoirse Ronan.

Spiderhole gets week long run at Tralee Omniplex

2010-12-10T09:01:00.001Z

Spiderhole gets week long run at Tralee Omniplex

This is the cinema where we held the Irish Premiere, it is a beautiful new and most importantly a proper big screen environment, the movie will begin screening on Friday night at 21.30 and 23.30 then again at the same times on Saturday night, and at 21.30 from Sunday through to Thursday, this is very exciting and a break through personally with regard to the Irish Theatric release, getting such a programming window at this time approaching christmas is simply a phenomenon. visit www.spiderholethemovie.com

€5,000 cash prize for Irish language Short Film

2010-11-25T09:02:00.005Z

Dingle Film Festival offers €5,000 cash prize for Irish language Short Film Proposal.

Tá Féile Scannán an Daingin ag tairiscint duais airgid €5,000 don Togra Gearrscannán as Gaeilge is fearr.

The Dingle Film Festival is delighted to announce 'Físín', a call to filmmakers to submit a short film proposal in the Irish language. The competition has a cash prize fund of €5,000 and €1,000 worth of lighting equipment hire sponsored by Cian de Buitléar's company Teach Solais.

Five filmmakers will be selected to travel to the next Dingle Film Festival which opens on St. Patrick's day 2011. Each of the five will be treated as festival guests and will be given the opportunity to pitch their proposal to a panal and a live audience in The Phoenix Cinema during the festival. A wonderful panel has been put together, including the iconic Eamon de Buitléar, writer Louise Ní Fhiannachta, writer Marina Ní Dhubháin and Micheál Ó Fearraigh, Director, Ealain Na Gaeltahta

The opportunity has been put together by the festival to encourage writing of film scripts in the Irish language. Tor Cotton, one of the festival sponsors came up with the idea.

"As an ardent supporter of the Dingle Film Festival I asked Maurice (the director) why he wasn't screening much, if ever, 'as gaeilge' in order to reflect the festival's location in the Corcha Dhuibhne Gaeltacht. The reply I got saddened and alarmed me, it couldn't be true. Were there really virtually no films being shot through Irish? There must be some and I am sure there are some, only a few mind." Tor went on to say "Just as I am shy to speak and thus progress my Irish, it may be that others are cautious about taking the risk to develop their films through Irish. However unlike my toe in the water of the language, the risk of making a bad film is equal in either tongue, I hope to speak more Irish and to see more films 'as gaeilge'. It seemed a logical conclusion to be constructive rather than critical and set up a competition to encourage film making through Irish."

The competition is aimed at people who combine a special interest in film alongside a commitment to the Irish language. The festival is keen to see proposals from all local dialects. This opportunity is open to any individual or group from Transitional students right through to professionals. The application is available on our home page to down load or you can email fisin@dinglefilmfestival.com. If you would like to call, you can contact Brenda Ní Shúileabháin, after 6pm on 066 9159895. The closing date for entries is January 31st 2011.

The winning pitch at the festival will receive €3,000 cash prize and €1,000 worth of rental lighting equipment and will return to Dingle with their finilised film in 2012. Four of the pitches will receive a cash prize of €500 and each filmmaker will receive a personalised commemorative leather notebook designed by Conor Holden.

The Dingle Film Festival, established in 2007, home to The Gregory Peck Award and who's guests have included Gabriel Byrne, Cillian Murphy, Jim Sheridan, Sir Alan Parker, Saoirse Ronan & Sarah Miles, will have its 5th edition next March opening on St. Patrick's Day, the 17th March and running until Sunday the 20th March 2011.

For further information please contact Festival Director, Maurice Galway:
maurice@dinglefilmfestival.com.

Spiderhole

2010-10-12T09:52:00.002Z

Spiderhole, a horror movie set in London but largely shoot in Kerry ( interiors ) produced and financed by a Kerry based production company, will be beginning its theatric release in conjunction with their distributors for the UK and Ireland, Soda Pictures. The film is screening at the IFI on Sat, October, 23rd at 19.20, bookings:

http://www.irishfilm.ie/horrorthon2010/13.html

The movie is beginning a week long run at the Empire Leicester Square from the 29th of Oct, other dates include a 4 day run at the Belfast QFT from the 12th of November.

For more information yon can follow the movies facebook page and become a fan to support this highly accomplished Independent movie:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Spiderhole/285634445248?ref=ts

Ireland Film Festival

Fallen Angels

2010-09-23T12:48:00.004Z

Fallen Angels
Fallen Angels by Dingle Film Festival's Artistic Director, Maurice Galway will be projected on the streets of Dingle tomorrow night, the 24th September as part of Culture Night.

"The range of work is very interesting, diverse yet rooted, connected to here...An Ghaeltacht", says Andrew Duggan who has curated the projections entitled, 'Ó Bhalla Go Balla_Wall to Wall'.

"A necklace of outdoor projections around the town of Dingle showcasing the breath of work here in An Gaeltacht and its influence beyond the physical boarder."

There is also an exhibition of vinyl artwork and DJs in a closed record store on Dyke entitled " Off The Record", starting a 7.30pm.

There is much more taking place in the town and on the peninsula throughout the evening.

Irish Film Festival

2nd AGM of the Dingle Film Festival

2010-09-08T08:30:00.004Z

The Members and Board of The Dingle Film Festival met last night and held the second AGM of the company. Pictured from left to right: John Naughten, Mike Ó Dulaing, David Chippendale and Maurice Galway. Great plans for 2011 on the way!

Film Festivals in Ireland

HIS & HERS

2010-08-10T22:57:00.002Z

A Unique Film
Showing again tomorrow night and Thursday night at 9pm in The Phoenix Cinema
You must see this film

AWARD WINNING DOCUMENTARY COMES TO DINGLE

His & Hers, an Award Winning Documentary by Director Ken Wardrop

His & Hers is a multi award winning film that tells a 90-year-old love story through the voices of 70 women from the Irish Midlands. His & Hers won the Audience award in the Dublin International Film festival, the Feature Award in the Galway Film Fleadh, an IFTA for best feature documentary and the Cinematography Award at the Sundance Film Festival 2010.

His & Hers went on limited release in Ireland on June 18th. Since its release the film was defied all expectations and has become the most successful Irish documentary ever released. If you haven’t had the opportunity to see this excellent documentary yet, go to The Phoenix Cinema Wednesday 11th and Thursday 12th August at 9pm.

Shanghai - China

2010-07-19T12:17:00.002Z

Opening on Wednesday 21 July, a collection of works by sixteen Irish photographic and video artists will be exhibited at the Xuhui Arts Museum in Shanghai, China. Curated by Peggy Sue Amison, artistic director of Sirius Arts Centre, Cobh and Chris Hurley, artistic director of Cork Film Centre, Cork city, 'Postcards From the Celtic Tiger' presents a collection of some of Ireland's most dynamic visual artists utilising photography and video in the country today. The exhibition confronts the radical contrasts resulting from massive shifts caused by the economic boom to the recent downturn, presenting a collective vision of contemporary Ireland through visual art. The show features works by Martin Cregg, Jennifer Cunningham, Mark Curran, David Farrell, Sean Hillen, Maurice Galway, Sarah Iremonger, Maximilian Le Cain, Danny McCarthy, Sandra Minchin, Ciara Moore, Harry Moore, Richard Mosse, Jackie Nickerson, Ailbhe Ni Bhriain and Eoin O' Conaill.

Drying in the Rain

2010-07-07T10:21:00.005Z

'Drying in the Rain' a film instillation and selection of line drawings by Maurice Galway was opened in An Gailearaí, Falcaarragh, Donegal last Sunday evening.

An exhibition comprising a film installation especially commissioned by An Gailearaí, and a limited number of Maurice's extensive journal of drawings produced over the last 19 years, which act as a visual diary of his life and work.

"No matter how difficult it gets, you still have to celebrate it… 'It' being life… living" states Galway, summarising a habit of creating visual footnotes to the events that mark, shape and direct our lives; some happy, some frivolous and some utterly profound. *

How does one distil the vagaries of life, the irrationality, and the whimsy, into the lines of a drawing, a still of a film, into a form that celebrates life? A single mark on paper denotes a curve or arc but such is the beauty and power of Galway's marks they capture a sense of something bigger despite their minimalism. Galway's marks on paper and his 'Drying in the Rain' are not about language in the written form but a visual language of the form, arcs and curves of life. The written word in western culture is dominant, yet Galway has developed a powerful visual language that captures those moments and describes the jouissance (bliss). His language is not important because it records what he has seen and experienced, but because of what it potentially leads the viewer on to see and experience. In this sense he has achieved Julia Kresteva's view of the role of art as "the flow of jouissance into language". Written by Celine Haran, Co-Director of An Gailearaí.

* Reference Ciaran Walsh's text from exhibition catalogue

Maurice Galway's work includes film, photography, line drawing and installations. He has exhibited in Ireland, Europe and North America and has curated numerous exhibitions including: 'Gimmie Shelter', the 'In Pursuit' series and 'Pictures' series with The Siamsa Gallery. His work has been published in a number of publications. He is founder and Artistic Director of the Dingle Film Festival/Féile Scannán an Daingin. He lives in Kerry with his wife Catherine and their 4 children.

'Drying in the Rain' was created, produced and performed by Maurice Galway, Directed and filmed by Eugene O Connor, Music by Dave Keary, produced in association with Fás TV & Production Unit Tralee. Stills by Jammie Tanner. Colourist was Gwyn Evans at The Hat Factory Post London.

Festival Review by Rebecca Kemp

2010-05-18T08:13:00.003Z

This year's Dingle Film Festival wasn't the only show in town paying homage to the movies. The Festival enjoyed the unique position of having the camera turned on it for the filming of Geoff Wonfor's documentary We'll Always Have Dingle. There aren't too many film festivals where you'll stumble upon Ice Cold in Alex being recreated for a film crew in the local pub, but this is Dingle.

Festival organisers piled the pressure on themselves this year by moving their usual slot in September back six months to March. Whilst this must have seemed an impossibly tight timeframe to confirm special guests and secure prints, the move paid off with an impressive line-up by any international standards, and one that included six Irish film titles.

Cillian Murphy opened the festival for the screening of his latest film Perrier's Bounty, and was joined by Stephen Frears who also made the trip from London to receive the Gregory Peck Award for Excellence in the Art of Film. Frears entertained a capacity crowd at Dingle's Phoenix Cinema in his customary understated manner and told of his friendship with Peck which started when the actor called him after watching The Snapper.

Director and producer Geoff Wonfor (The Beatles Anthology) attended the festival last year and loved it so much he returned to film a documentary, using the device of recreating classic movie scenes as a tribute to Dingle's link with films like A Quiet Man, Ryan's Daughter and Far and Away. The film's title comes from Humphrey Bogart's line in Casablanca: "We’ll always have Paris," and Wonfor intends to submit it to the Sundance Film Festival.

An impressive achievement by festival director Maurice Galway was to secure the first gathering of RED camera users in Ireland. In addition to a seminar on the pioneering technology, Galway organised the modification of Dingle's Phoenix cinema to show Conor Horgan's One Hundred Mornings shot on RED. Scaffolding was installed in the cinema to accommodate the 4k projector required to display RED's superior picture resolution (4000 pixels per inch).

A panel discussion on the future of film in Ireland included Teresa McGrane from the Irish Film Board, Kevin Moriarty from Ardmore Studios, film producer Ed Guiney and director Paddy Breathnach, who also gave a Q&A after a retrospective showing of I Went Down. A nod to the gangster genre connected showings of A Prophet, Perrier's Bounty, I Went Down, Public Enemy and Bugsy Malone where the audience came dressed up as spivs and molls. Documentaries Houston We Have a Problem and Crude both looked at the oil industry, whilst Mugabe and the White African documented the plight of white farmers in Zimbabwe. Otto Schlindwein's Descendents explored the tradition of unaccompanied song in Ireland followed by live performances from Eilis Ni Chinneide & Rosie Stewat. Other Irish films included Margaret Corkery's black comedy Eamon and Conor McDermottroe's look at a broken childhood in Swansong. BBC director and producer (and regular DFF attendee) Anthony Wall introduced his documentary on the life of Harold Pinter, and considerable time and effort went into getting Andrew Zuckerman's documentary and photographic exhibition Wisdom shown at the festival and exhibited at Siamsa Tire in Tralee.

Memorable moments during this wonderfully unpretentious film festival include Beatles fan Cillian Murphy listening intently to Geoff Wonfor's tales of the fab four, Mary Coughlan giving an impromptu bar performance of Joy Division's Love Will Tear Us Apart, and the uninitiated staring in bewilderment at festival goers and organisers re-enacting scenes from Titanic, Casablanca, A Street Car Named Desire and Some Like it Hot for Wonfor's documentary.

Dingle Film Festival is fast developing itself as a new space for people who love film and an important platform those who work in the industry. This and Wonfor's unique documentary are surely a sign that Dingle Film Festival is an emerging contender with class.

Post Festival Report

2010-04-16T12:13:00.008Z

The 4th Dingle Film Festival was a major success on many levels this year including; Box Office, Irish Industry attendees, Major guests, the workshop programme, the educational and family programmes, the press coverage achieved and the impact made on Dingle itself, both in terms of business and income to the town and in promoting the town as a destination. This success is due to the festival managing to deliver an extensive, well curated and comprehensive programme that offered a wide choice to its audiences, both within the industry and without.

Change of dates
The change of festival date from September to March was an outstanding success, as was proved over the weekend of the 4th festival. Although it was incredibly hard to compile a festival programme in such a short time frame, it was important to move from the September date, as September sat on the dates of Toronto Film Festival and we found it hard to secure Irish prints. This year we screened 6 Irish film titles. Furthermore, the festival box office doubled on last September's figures.
Kicking off the season in Dingle was a major boost for the town, coming into the season when businesses were fresh and eager to welcome guests. Local businesses were very happy with the volume of people in the town and the attention Dingle achieved in the press.

Box Office
The box office of the festival doubled on its takings in September 2009. Again, an endorsement on holding the festival in March and a sign of the growing awareness of the festival with people visiting the festival nationally and internationally.
Our Family and educational programmes were sold almost to capacity on every screening, along with many events running at 70% capacity and the Opening night being completely sold out

Press
The festival gained excellent press coverage, both post and pre-festival with 11 national features and 14 local features being written on the festival. These included half page photographs in the Irish Examiner and The Irish Independent, along with major photos in The Star, The Sunday Business Post, The Kerryman, Kerry's Eye and The Kingdom.

A major 2 page feature in The Irish Times on Dingle listed The Dingle Film Festival in its top five 'where to go in Dingle'.

A wonderful 2 page feature in Foinse

A feature on Cillian Murphy in Cara magazine by Tony Clayton-Lea in the June edition

In conjunction with Failte Ireland, Dingle Film Festival was part of a major giveaway on Newstalk spanning all 5 major programmes: The Breakfast Show, Tom Dunne, Lunchtime, Moncrieff and The Right Hook on Friday 11th March.

Tom Dunne on Newstalk interviewed Director Maurice Galway and special guest to the festival, Cillian Murphy on Friday 19th March.

Lyric FM and Ian Dempsey on Today FM gave major coverage to the festival

Wheeshie Fogerty, the most listened to show on Radio Kerry, interviewed Maurice Galway, director of Dingle Film Festival, for an hour on his show 'In Conversation'.

'Talk About' with Deirdre Walsh on Radio Kerry also had Maurice as a special guest.

On Line features were reported on by dinglenews.com, Irish Film & Television News, Film Ireland, Irish Film Board and National Papers, and a number of International News websites covered Stephen Frears receiving The Gregory Peck Award and Cillian Murphy opening the festival.

International Guests
The festival aim, to bring to Dingle internationally acclaimed actors and film makers, was again achieved this year with special Guest Cillian Murphy opening the festival and the premiere screening of his lastest film 'Perrier's Bounty' launching the festival. Renowned director Stephen Frears, (films include: The Snapper, Dangerous Liaisons and The Queen) received The Gregory Peck Award: For Excellence in the Art of Film. The award, designed by jeweller Brian de Staic and based on The Aglish Pillar, was presented to Frears by producer Ned Dowd, (Last of the Mohicans, Veronica Guerin, Apocalypto) in a ceremony in The Phoenix Cinema which also included Frears giving a public interview, conducted by Film Critic John Maguire.
Tom Johnson, (Titanic, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Alice in Wonderland) the sound artist, gave an incredible talk on The Power of Sound; the "red hot" RED Camera was represented by RED head of Europe Alan Piper; and Laura Castelli from Assimilate presented SCRATCH to an audience in The Phoenix Cinema - each presenting their work through a 4K projector supplied by HoloVis in the UK. Kevin Smart gave an introduction into the work of HoloVis. The panel also included Eric Mofford, Eugene McCrystal(Dublin) and Conor Horgan. All of this was an incredible first for Ireland; these guests and this technology never before being seen in Ireland, a world class event. The event was put together with Brian Nolan and Fas: TV & Production Unit Tralee.
Heiko Sparenberg gave a talk and introduction to DCP file creation. Apple Educators attended the festival and there was an excellent presentation on Apple Final Studio - RED workflow given by Chris Grey.
Eric Mofford introduced his film 'Huston we have a problem', Anthony Wall, BBC Arena, introduced his film 'Harold Pinter: A Celebration' and Oli Hartbottle from DOGWOOF introduced their films 'Mugabe and the white African' and 'Crude'.

The festival attracted Director Sir Alan Parker and actress Sarah Miles in 2007; Cultural Ambassador of Ireland and Actor, Gabriel Bryne in 2008; and actress Saoirse Ronan and director Jim Sheridan in 2009.

Irish Film Industry
The Irish film industry was well represented at the festival in a number of events and screenings. A point of note here being that the numbers of Irish industry guests quadrupled on last September.

Brendan Touhy, chaired a group of experts on 'The Future of Film in Ireland' and the panel included; Head of Business, The Irish Film Board, Teresa McGrane; MD of Ardmore Studios, Kevin Moriarty; Producer, Ed Guiney (Zonad, Five Minutes of Heaven, Garage, Adam & Paul); Director, Paddy Breathnach (I Went Down, Man About Dog); Writer, Marc Flanagan (Tracey Ullman Show); and Film Critic, John Maguire.

Following the RED seminar Conor Horgan introduced his film 'One Hundred Mornings' which was shot on RED. Edwina Forkin, Zanzibar Productions introduced her film 'Swansong', Director Margaret Corkery, introduced her first feature 'Eamon' and Paddy Breathnach gave a Q&A following a retrospective screening of his 'I Went Down'. Otto Schlindwein and performers from 'Descendants' were present at their screening and performed live before and after the screening.

A number of Irish shorts were also represented including Aideen O Sullivan & Ross Whitaker Directors of 'Buy Buy Now' and Steph Green, Director of 'New Boy'.

Photo Journalist, Padraig Kennelly opened the international exhibition 'Wisdom' (featuring Clint Eastwood, Robert Redford, Judi Dench, Nelson Mandela, Desmond Tutu) by Andrew Zuckerman in the Siamsa Gallery which ran until April 17th and which received a tremendous response from visitors to the gallery. The exhibition moves on to be exhibited in New York later this year.

Business people of Dingle
The feeling in Dingle during and after the festival was of major positiveness towards, and genuine excitement about, the festival - in particular the buzz and business it created over the weekend. The festival clubs were a major networking opportunity and proved what a sociable event the festival is, with each club night being packed to capacity and facilitating close proximity with all guests in a open and friendly environment. As one guest commented when asked why he repeatedly attends the festival, "there is no ego."

We'll Always Have Dingle
Taken from the classic line 'We'll always have Paris' spoken by Ingrid Bergman in the film 'Casablanca' this is the title for a documentary being made on the festival in conjunction with this year's event. Directed by Geoff Wonfor (Beatles Anthology), who was a guest of the festival in 2009, and was so impressed by the passion and the energy of the festival at that point that he promised to return and shoot a feature documentary on the festival in 2010. The documentary captured the festival throughout weekened and then continued to film following the festival for another 6 days.

The documentary pays homage to classic feature films and great film makers including David Lean, recreating some of the most compelling movie scenes of all time. It also pays tribute to festival organiser and founder Maurice Galway, who is playing a starring role in the film. The film will show how difficult it is to put on a festival and the dedication needed. The film is produced by Diane Namm and Debbie Vandermeulen, with Line Producer Eric Moffard (24), and Director of Photography being Eugene O Connor (Beatles Anthology, Killanascully). The documentary interviewed guests at the 2010 festival, including Cillian Murphy and Stephen Frears. Musician and music buff Jools Holland will aslo star in the film. One of the guests at this year's festival, the singer Mary Coughlan, has also come on board to provide music for particular scenes.

Closing note
The 4th Dingle Film Festival was organised within a 5 month period and on very limited funding. No one is being paid at this point and all work is being achieved on a voluntary basis. This is an incredible achievement for any small company, but unrealistic for the sustainable future of the company. The festival has grown significally in the the past 4 years, but in order for it to be maintained and for such growth to continue, it needs investment.

This is essential: the value of the event both locally and nationally has been proven without any doubt at this point. The festival is being and has been endorsed by numerous International and National film personages; has achieved premiere screenings of major films; and has gained international press each year. It now needs to be valued by the State from a funding point of view and needs to attach itself to a number of sponsors who can understand the festival and share in the festival's passion in what it is currently achieving on this beautiful peninsula on the south west coast of Ireland - a known film location, a major tourist destination and a place deep in the history of film.

A very special thank you to all our Sponsors, Funders and Supporters

We'll Always Have Dingle

2010-03-28T14:14:00.005Z

'WE'LL ALWAYS HAVE DINGLE'
GRAMMY AWARD WINNER GEOFF WONFOR HELMS DOCUMENTARY

Geoff Wonfor, who directed THE HISTORY OF THE BEATLES anthology has been in Dingle this week to film the Dingle Film Festival (DFF) the first time a documentary has featured a film festival as its subject. Now in its fourth year, the DFF has played host to many top names in the film industry, including SIR ALAN PARKER, JIM SHERIDAN, GABRIEL BYRNE, SARAH MILES and SAOIRSE RONAN. This year's guests were STEPHEN FREARS (The Snapper, The Queen) and CILLIAN MURPHY (Batman Begins and Dark Knight) who appear in 'WE'LL ALWAYS HAVE DINGLE.'

The Dingle Film Festival first caught Geoff Wonfor's attention in 2009 when Maurice Galway, the Artistic Director, selected and screened the Beatles anthology in its entirety as a tribute to local Irish co-producer Chips Chipperfield. Impressed by Maurice's passion for film and the filmmaking process, charmed by Dingle's unique place in classic movie lore (RYAN'S DAUGHTER and FAR AND AWAY, among others, Wonfor enlisted longtime collaborator, cinematographer/director Eugene O'Connor to help him document the festival.

'WE'LL ALWAYS HAVE DINGLE' tells the story of the gutsy festival organizer who created an event that honours moviemakers, past and present, much like Robert Redford set out to do when he created the Sundance Film Festival.

Wonfor's approach to the documentary is, like Dingle, unique. Using dialogue in the Irish language, Wonfor cleverly recreates classic movie moments from Casablanca, Godfather, Cinema Paradiso and more, thus 'Dingle-izing' them, while weaving interviews by Maurice and local people throughout, and revealing Dingle's own rich history and long-time contribution to the film industry.

THE TEAM
Executive Producers: Geoff Wonfor, Diane Namm and Debbie Vandermeulen
Director: Geoff Wonfor
Writer/Producer: Diane Namm
Producer: Debbie Vandermeulen
Director of Photography: Eugene O'Connor
Line Producer: Eric Mofford
Camera Operator: Conor Kelly
Sound Engineer: Trevor Cunningham
Production Designer: Sica Schmitz
FAS TV & VIDEO Production Crew: Brian Clarke; Caitriona Curran; Zoe Farrell; Niall Gurn; Martin Keenan; Noelia Luque; Etain McGuckian; Paddy O' Shea; Martin Pembroke and Jamie Tanner.

What A Success

2010-03-26T09:39:00.003Z

The 4th Dingle Film Festival was a great success and we are all happy with our decision to move the date from September to March. This change has increased our audience, allowed us to screen several Irish films and to have a major attendance from the Irish film industry. Local businesses felt a significant benefit for the first time, with visitors to the festival making a direct impact on the town.

Cillian Murphy(Batman Begins, Red Eye) opened the festival with Perrier's Bounty; Stephen Frears(The Snapper, The Queen) was presented the Gregory Peck Award from Ned Dowd (Last of The Mohicans); Head of RED Europe, Alan Piper came to Dingle, along with Laura Castelli of Assimilate, Eugene McCrystal and Kevin Smart from HoloVis and they presented 4k and 2k files, capturing, editing and presenting.

We had wonderful audiences for our 33 events, including the festival clubs which I am sure are among the highlights of each festival goer. From traditional music in John Benny's bar to the incredible 1930's night in the speakeasy created in Dick Mack's with DJ Rob and the sublime Mary Coughlan signing (certainly one of my highlights).

Right now the documentary being made on the festival, directed by Geoff Wonfor(Beatles Anthology) and produced by Diane Namm, is still being filmed here in Dingle.......no rest just yet!

Cillian Murphy opens the 4th Dingle Film Festival 2010 - Gala screening of Perrier's Bounty

2010-03-19T19:00:00.007Z

The gala screening of Perrier's Bounty, directed by Ian Fitzgibbon and written by Mark O'Rowe, attracted huge audience interest and it was "house full" at The Phoenix Cinema at 8.30pm on Thursday 18th March. The Dingle Film Festival was delighted to welcome actor Cillian Murphy, who plays Michael in the film, to officially open the 4th edition. The film is a hilarious play on the gangster genre (Dublin sub-division!) melding humour, violence and pathos and also stars Brendan Gleeson (Perrier), Jim Broadbent (Jim) and Jodie Whittaker (Brenda).

Festival director Maurice Galway opened proceedings by outlining the Festival's ambition which is to be realised in the medium-term through a three year plan. This plan has already received the backing of sponsors Tor Cotton and writer Marc Flanagan. Additional sponsors are being sought to commit to realising the plan. Maurice introduced Cillian Murphy who spoke about three generations of connection with Dingle and West Kerry, including his father, himself and now his own children, and the magic of the place. After the screening cinema-goers enjoyed the hospitality of John Moriarty and his family at Lord Bakers in Main Street, into the early hours.

Mobsters & Molls join Paddy's Day Parade in Dingle

2010-03-18T00:33:00.005Z

Dingle Film Festival staff and supporters got into character in Dingle to celebrate St Patrick's Day. Mobsters and molls and even a pooch patrolled the streets to a 1920s soundtrack with a sound system concealed in a pram. Film director Geoff Wonfor was on hand with his crew to record the event for his documentary on the Dingle Film Festival. PJ provided pazzazz with his 1923 Model T Ford, complete with running boards for the mobsters, from which they distributed Dingle Film Festival "At A Glance" fliers. The Festival's opening film, Perrier's Bounty, to be introduced by the film's star Cillian Murphy is sold out, but tickets remain for our other three evenings Descendants on Friday 19th, Stephen Frears & The Public Enemy on Saturday 20th and Barry Lyndon on Sunday 21st.

Stephen Frears to receive Gregory Peck Award

2010-03-14T18:22:00.005Z

Oscar nominated director Stephen Frears is the recipient of this year's Dingle Film Festival The Gregory Peck Award: For Excellence in the Art of Film.

The director's films include The Queen, Mrs Henderson Presents, High Fidelity, The Van and My Beautiful Laundrette. He has also won a BAFTA for Dangerous Liaisons and his TV adaptation of The Snapper.

The Dingle Film Festival is delighted that Stephen Frears will be in Dingle on Saturday 20th March to accept the award at a special ceremony at Dingle's Phoenix Cinema.

"Gregory had the greatest admiration for Stephen Frears as a filmmaker and fellow storyteller, and he had truly hoped that they would make a film together. Though they were never able to collaborate, it's especially meaningful to our family that this award in Gregory's name will be given to Stephen Frears in Gregory's ancestral home of Dingle." Veronique Peck

The ceremony will include an interview with Stephen Frears and a show reel of his life's film work. Gabriel Byrne and Jim Sheridan are previous recipients of the Gregory Peck Award, which recognises special achievements in filmmaking and was established in conjunction with Gregory Peck's family.

"I am absolutely thrilled that a director of Stephen's calibre will be in Dingle to receive the award this year. I have personally been an admirer of Stephen's work now for a long time. He is a truly great director." CEO Maurice Galway.

Stephen Frears is one of the UK's most distinctive and provocative directors. He began his career in television directing plays by Alan Bennett and Tom Stoppard, and his film breakthrough came with the low budget hit My Beautiful Laundrette. From here he made his Hollywood debut with Dangerous Liaisons which received six Oscar nominations, followed by The Grifters which was produced by Martin Scorsese and gained Frears a best director Oscar nomination. He went on to direct John Cusack and Jack Black in High Fidelity, and Judi Dench and Bob Hoskins in Mrs Henderson Presents. The Queen with Helen Mirren earned him another Oscar nomination, was awarded a best film BAFTA and gained Helen Mirren an Oscar. Last year Frears directed Michelle Pfeiffer and Rupert Friend in Cheri, and his latest film Tamara Drewe is due for release soon.

Stephen Frears will be presented with the Gregory Peck Award prior to the Dingle Film Festival evening screening of Public Enemy on Saturday 20th March. Tickets for the film, which includes the award ceremony, can be purchased from the Garden Cafe in Dingle or online from the Dingle Film Festival website www.dinglefilmfestival.com

Wisdom Opens Today

2010-03-12T08:43:00.002Z

Wisdom will be opened this evening, Friday 12th March, by Padraig Kennelly, in The Siamsa Gallery at 6pm, all are welcome.

Mobsters & Molls in Dingle

2010-03-09T13:56:00.007Z

You can enjoy a Mobsters and Molls night at the Dingle Film Festival on Saturday 20th in The Phoenix Cinema where we will be screening the Black & White classic The Public Enemy. Everybody is being asked to play the part and come dressed up as a Mobster or Moll. The party will continue following the screening in our festival club in Dick Mack's where Rob will play 1930's swing and Mary Coughlan will be a special guest.

On Tuesday 9th March, Berry Murphy, pictured here (above right)with Seamie, Joe, Liath and Ruarc, won the prize of a Festival Pass after the hunt around Dingle for the Swag Bags. This fun competition was the brain-child of promotions guru, Annette Llowarch.

On Sunday all the family can have fun at our screening of the children's classic Bugsy Malone, also screening in The Phoenix cinema. Book now from this website using Pay Pal.

See you in Dingle!

Programme Launch of 4th Edition at The Garden Cafe

2010-03-03T14:01:00.003Z

We had a wonderful launch for the Dingle Film Festival 2010, 4th Edition, at The Garden Cafe last night. 80 guests including sponsors, artists, journalists, venue owners, volunteers and audience members thronged the cafe. Each received a complementary Programme while Sheila Egan provided free coffee, tea and scrumptious cakes. David and Nigel dressed as "mobsters" complete with spats, trailing our "fancy dress feature", Jimmy Cagney in "The Public Enemy". After the food and drink Maurice Galway opened proceedings with a speech outlining the programme and thanked all those who have supported the festival in cash, kind and effort. He introduced Philip King who formally opened the Programme Launch with an impassioned speech about the role of filmic arts in our cultural life. Dingle now offers a "string of pearls" of cultural events through the year and, through the beauty of the place and personality of its people, is able to attract the very best of national and international talent without destroying its essence.

DFF hosts Ireland's 1st RED Users Gathering

2010-02-25T21:17:00.003Z

Dingle Film Festival will welcome RED to the first annual Irish Red Users Gathering in Dingle on Saturday March 20th in The Phoenix Cinema.

Dingle is certainly competing to be different as it welcomes Alan Piper, Operations Director of RED Europe, who will be showcasing the newly upgraded RED One Camera, with Mysterium-X Sensor, as well as premiering RED's 4K M-X Show Reel on JVC's new 4K Projector, supplied by HoloVis UK. Again a first for Ireland!

The festival are also delighted to welcome Laura Castelli from ASSIMILATE showing their real-time 4K grading solution SCRATCH.

To compliment this unique event the DFF are compiling an Irish 4k Show Reel and are looking for suitable RED material, preferably 4K, to be included in the Show Reel.
If you would like to submit footage for consideration, please contact brian.nolan@fas.ie.
for more information as soon as possible.

In keeping with the RED theme the festival is also delighted to welcome Apple to Dingle where they will be presenting Final Cut Studio - RED workflow seminar. This two-hour seminar will guide you through the basic workflow of using RED footage with Final Cut Studio. Footage will be taken into Final Cut Pro, passed through to Color and back to Final Cut Pro again as advantages of Pro Res and RED raw footage are discussed. The presenter will be on-hand with a Euphonix MC Color Control to show the advantages of working on Color with this control surface.

Continuing with this amazing line-up DFF will also present The Power of Sound with double Oscar winner, Tom Johnson and Easy DCP with Heiko Sparenberg.

Brendan Tuohy will chair a discussion on 'The Future of Film in Ireland'. The Irish Film Board has recently set up a group to look at developing a strategy for the future of the Irish Film and Audiovisual Industry. This group is drawn from the industry itself and the relevant Government Departments and agencies. It is hoped that the group will chart a strategy to double the size of the sector over a period of about five years with an increased emphasis on exports.

DFF would also like to give a special welcome to the many Irish Apple Authorized Training Centers and Trainers that will visit Dingle for their 2010 AATC/e Irish conference.

These seminars have been organized by the Dingle Film Festival, in conjunction with
The FAS: TV & Video Production Unit, Tralee.

For further information Contact:

Brian Nolan, FAS: Tralee TV & Video Production Unit brian.nolan@fas.ie 066-7149679

Or

Maurice Galway, CEO/Artistic Director Dingle Film Festival Maurice@dinglefilmfestival.com 087 9139962

Great Evening with Weeshie

2010-02-24T20:40:00.003Z

Just had a great 1 hour interview with Weeshie Fogerty, on radio Kerry, a lovely evening a lovely gentleman!!!!!!

Brian Nolan and his crew were there capturing footage for Geoff Wonfor's Documentary on the Dingle Film Festival

Weeshie and myself photographed

5 IFTAs to be represented in Dingle

2010-02-21T18:13:00.003Z

The IFTAs last night was a wonderful event with a lovely warm atmosphere and had a host of Irish and International talent present. 5 winners last night will be represented at this year's Dingle Film Festival in March. Rob Walpole and Rebecca O Flanagan took home the IFTA for best film, The Eclipse. Rob will be in Dingle with Paddy Breathnach along with a retrospective screening of their film, I Went Down. The Secret of Kells picked up 2 IFTAs, Tom Moore for both Rising Star and Best Animation, The Secret of Kells will play as part of our educational programme. Tom Johnson who will be in Dingle giving a talk on The Power of Sound picked up Best Sound Award for Ondine and Suzie Lavelle picked up The Best Director of Photography Award for One Hundred Mornings which will be screened following our RED Seminar .

The stars certainly came out with John Boorman, receiving a life time achievement award, also present were Saoirse Ronan, Brendan Gleeson, Colin Farrell, Michael Fassbender, Sir Alan Parker (Alan opened the first Dingle Film Festival in 2007), Jon Voight, Matt Dillon, Juliette Binoche, Josh Hartnett, Aidan Quinn and many more.

For full details of the awards go to http://www.iftn.ie/?act1=record&only=1&aid=73&rid=4282883&tpl=archnewshome&force=1

WISDOM

2010-02-18T11:44:00.002Z

The GALLERY Siamsa and Dingle Film Festival are delighted to bring you Wisdom
http://www.siamsagallery.ie/wisdom-comes-to-the-gallery-siamsa-tire/

Opening March 12th at 6pm All Welcome