The 8th Annual Samhlaíocht Kerry Film Festival has announced its line-up for this year fest, with screenings of Irish and international shorts, features and docos taking place around the county from October 27th- November 3rd.
The festival offers a cash prize of €5,000 for Best Director, as well as a €500 prize in each of four categories – Best Irish Narrative Short, Best International Narrative Short, Best Documentary Short and Best Animated Short, sponsored by the Irish Film Centre.
Festival judges this year include Irish actor and Oscar nominated producer Gabriel Byrne, who will judge the Best Director category; Trevor Groth, Sundance Film Festival, who will judge International Shorts; Oscar Winning Doco Director Eric Simonson, who judges Best Doco; ‘Seraphim Falls’ producer David Flynn, who will judge Irish Shorts and Max Le Cain from Cork Film Centre who will pick the Best Animated Short.
Highlights from the shorts line-up include Ruairí O’Brien’s award-winning ‘Teeth’, and ‘Fowl’, which examines modern mans’ dependence on horrific methods of food production. Sixty shorts were selected from over 300 submissions, almost double the entries from last year. International shorts include Paul Carafotes’ ‘Club Soda’, starring and produced by James Gandolfini from ‘The Sopranos’:
This year’s Opening Night Film is Irish Feature, ‘Studs’, which will screen at Tralee’s Síamsa Tíre on Saturday October 27th at 7pm, with director Paul Mercier in attendance.
KFF’s Irish Language Program sees ‘Poitín’ and ‘Cré na Cille’ play in Dingle on October 29th, with Kerry’s Dara Ó Cinnéide presenting a Q and A with the films’ directors Bob and Robert Quinn respectively on the night.
The KFF workshop programme includes a Directing Master-Class by Director Paul Mercier (Studs, Aifric), a Documentary Master-Class from film maker Dónal Ó' Céilleachair (Vajra Sky Over Tibet) and Cork Film Centre’s Gunther Berkus will give a Master Class in Cinema 4D.
The Samhlaíocht Kerry Film Festival Education Programme kicks off on Monday, November 5th, with three screenings in Síamsa Tíre – German Language film ‘Warchild’, Baz Luhrman’s ‘Strictly Ballroom’ and Fís screenings – five films made by five different primary schools from around Kerry.
The education programme then moves to Killarney, Tralee and Listowel, with films including ‘Inside I’m Dancing’ and ‘The Truman Show’.
On Sunday, October 28th Síamsa Tíre will screen ‘The Green and The Gold’, a historical documentary of the Kingdom’s footballers past and present.
The Samhlaíocht Kerry Film Festival is funded by The Arts Council, Kerry County Council, Fáilte Ireland and corporate sponsorship by Kerry Group.
For more info go to www.kerryfilmfestival.com.
