Laura Linney, Kathy Bates and Cyndi Lauper: Galway Film Fleadh reveals its 2023 line-up

The programme for the 35th edition of the Galway Film Fleadh groans with premieres of new Irish cinema. Thirty-four domestic films will unspool by the Corrib. The Fleadh boasts 20 world premieres and seven Irish premieres. Events kick off on July 11th with the Irish launch of Thaddeus O’Sullivan’s The Miracle Club. The director of December Bride takes us back to Dublin of the 1960s as three women embark on a pilgrimage to Lourdes. Laura Linney, Kathy Bates and Maggie Smith are among the starry cast of film that looks to be aiming straight for the heartstrings. The great Cyndi Lauper will help close the Fleadh when she attends a screening of Let the Canary Sing, Alison Ellwood’s documentary on her busy career.

The Fleadh has secured a fine line-up of international features. Prime among them is Celine Song’s indecently moving Past Lives. Hugely praised at Sundance, the subtle romantic drama — following childhood friends who reunite in New York decades after separating in Korea — is, by some measures, the best reviewed film in the US of 2023 and is already pencilled in for a host of Oscar nominations. Song will participate in a Q&A after the Irish premiere.

The festival is, however, best known for its promotion of domestic cinema. First staged in 1989, the event soon became the key destination for Irish filmmakers seeking to put their work before the world. John Carney’s Once, later an Oscar nominee, is among the celebrated films to make their debut here. Last year, Kathryn Ferguson’s Nothing Compares, a documentary on Sinéad O’Connor, premiered to ecstatic applause. Guests have included such luminaries as Martin Sheen, Isabelle Huppert, Annette Bening, Peter O’Toole and Saoirse Ronan.

This year’s slate of Irish films includes the world premiere of Apocalypse Clown. George Kane, director of the hilarious Discoverdale — which concerned a metal band in search of Whitesnake frontman David Coverdale — confirms his taste for a punny title with this study of three hapless clowns seeking to survive, yes, the apocalypse. The post-show discussion should be a hoot.

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Other promising titles from the Irish programme include Emmet Sheerin’s Who Would Jesus Bomb?, investigating domestic resistance to America’s “war on terror”; Margo Harkin’s Stolen, a powerful examination of scandals concerning the Irish “mother-and-baby” homes; Cathal Ó Cuaig’s Viva Mary, examining the changing place of women in Ireland through the story of one 90-year-old; and John Carlin’s Lie of the Land, a debut drama concerning a family’s flight from financial catastrophe. Busy TV director Lisa Mulcahy will be there for the world premiere of her intriguing Sheridan Le Fanu adaptation Lies We Tell. The fast-rising Agnes O’Casey stars as an orphaned heiress terrorised by a malign guardian. Though the film is derived from Le Fanu’s much-adapted Uncle Silas, the blurb stresses “this is not a frocks-and-bonnets period picture”.

A dedicated music strand points us towards one of Scotland’s most influential post-punk bands with The Skids: Revolution. The great Joan Baez will join the festival by video link for a discussion following the screening of Miri Navasky, Karen O’Connor and Maeve O’Boyle’s documentary Joan Baez: I Am a Noise. Ciara Nic Chormaic’s monochrome doc Ó Bhéal explores “how hip hop artists are drawing on the tradition of sean-nós, Irish poetry and béaloideas to create a new sound”.

The Peripheral Visions strand highlights emerging talent. An Artist on Film section looks at such greats as director Douglas Sirk and novelist William Faulkner. Maeve McGrath, director of programming, and Miriam Allen, stalwart chief executive, will also be honouring absent friends. “Filmmakers are the life blood of the festival and this year we remember two good friends of the festival who are no longer with us,” they announce. “A retrospective screening of Kings will remember Tommy Collins and, to honour James Flynn’s contribution and legacy to the Irish film industry, we are delighted to name the Best First Short Drama award in his name.”

Collins was among the nation’s most dogged and inventive directors. Flynn, who died in February, was the energetic producer of many influential features and television series.

The 35th Galway Film Fleadh runs from July 11th until July 16th.