Run & Jump wins at Galway

The film, produced by Samson Films, Bavaria Pictures and Senator Film München and directed by the Oscar-nominated Green, also picked up the Best First Irish Feature prize.

George Kane’s Discoverdale won the award for Best International Feature while Boy Eating The Bird’s Food, from Greece’s Ektoras Lygizos, won Best International First Feature.

Vico Nikci’s Coming Home won Best Irish Feature Documentary and was also named Best Human Rights Documentary in association with Amnesty International.

Plot For Peace from Carlos Agullo and Mandy Jacobson was named Best International Feature Documentary.

Galway’s Bingham Ray New Talent Award in association with Magnolia Pictures was given to Kelly Thornton for her performance in Lance Daly’sLife’s A Breeze, which received its world premiere at Galway.

The festival’s Pitching Award was given to Jacinta Owens for her project, C-Me 2020.

Shorts winners

A qualifying festival for the Academy Awards’ short film category, Galway recognized a range of shorts. Winners included:

Eoin Duffy’s The Missing Scarf (The James Horgan Award for Best Animation in association with Telegael);

Rory Kerr’s That’s Not Supposed to Happen (Best First Animation Award in association with Cartoon Saloon);

Louise Ni Fhiannachta’s Rubai (The Best First Short Drama in association with Mazars);

Tom Sullivan and Feidhlim Cannon’s Mechanic (The Tiernan MacBride Award for Best Short Drama in association with Network Ireland Television);

Laura McCann’s The End of The Counter (The Best Short Documentary Award in Association with Teach Solas).

Galway Hooker awards – the festival’s highest accolade – were given to Saoirse Ronan, who had earlier participated in a public interview, and former Irish Film Board chair James Morris.

Ireland’s president Michael D Higgins attended the event and gave Miriam Allen, managing director and co-founder of the Galway Film Fleadh, a surprise award for her ongoing commitment and dedication to the Irish film industry.

Local and intl screenings

Galway’s 25^th edition kicked off on July 9 with Roger Gual’s Spanish-Irish co-productionTasting Menu and saw a range of local and international work screening.

New Irish films includedLife’s A Breeze, Stephen Brown’s John Banville adaptationThe Sea, which closed the festival, Christine Molloy and Joe Lawlor’s Mister John, Eoin C Macken’s Cold, and Donal Foreman’s Out Of Here.

Guests at the festival included Saoirse Ronan, Zachary Quinto, Fionnula Flanagan and Julien Temple.

Industry fair

Galway’s Film Fair (July 11-13) included a range of industry initiatives.

Its Marketplace ran July 12-13 and scheduled over 700 one-on-one meetings between producers and international sales agents, distributors, broadcasters and film funds as well as networking meetings with BBC Films, Film4, William Morris Endeavour (WME) and others.

Marketplace organisers reported an unprecedented number of applications with producers attending from Ireland, the UK, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Poland, Greece, Estonia, Hungary, Armenia, US and Canada.

Networking and industry events included a MEDIA Co-production dinner held on the eve of the Marketplace for over 160 delegates.

Real Deal

The festival’s Real Deal conference took place on July 11 and was hosted by Angus Finney. Participants included new Irish Film Board project managers Rory Gilmartin, Mary Callery and Keith Potter, who discussed development and creative producing.

Treasure Entertainment producer Rebecca O’Flanagan presented a case study on the low-budget Irish comedy The Stag. Clips from the film, about a group of urbane Irish men who reluctantly attend a stag party, had attendees buzzing.

Eduardo Panizzo of Coffee & Cigarettes, David Shear of Shear Entertainment, Emily Best of Seed & Spark and the re:fine Group’s Anita O’Donnell explored hybrid distribution and reaching audiences, while Picturehouse UK’s Sarah Frain and Gabriel Swartland presented case studies exploring the releases of Made Of Stone, A Field In England and A Pervert’s Guide To Ideology.

An auction of memorabilia was held on July 13 to raise money for Galway’s new Solas Picture Palace, which is currently under construction and will have three cinema screens.