Spotlight at the 31st Galway Film Fleadh

The 31^st Galway Film Fleadh takes place from Tuesday 9^th July to Sunday 14^th July 2019

The Galway Film Fleadh is unmissable in the eyes of many Irish film industry folk who annually convene on the streets of Galway.

The Fleadh has grown and grown, gaining huge international recognition over its three decades in existence, yet still manages to keep its personal feel. It is a place where those who make films mix comfortably with those who enjoy watching films and where Hollywood stars mingle with the locals. It is a place where friends, colleagues and film lovers come together, reunions take place and actors, directors and crew members socialise in a relaxing environment.

This friendly atmosphere lends itself to huge networking opportunities for filmmakers and, of course, actors. With the industry marketplace, professional masterclasses and a host of talks, on top of a huge range of film screenings, there are an abundance of opportunities to learn as well as many a chance to grab a coffee (or pint!) with industry peers.

The Spotlight Hub

Spotlight Ireland is delighted to return to the Fleadh for our 5^th year. Our Spotlight hub will be running out of The Galmont Hotel and our door will be open to anyone who would like to drop in to say hello or to discuss Spotlight.

Career Advice

This year we are running free One-to-One Career Advice Sessions on the Thursday and Friday mornings followed by a Headshot Advice Clinic on Thursday afternoon and a Self-Tape Clinic on Friday afternoon.

We also hold monthly One-to-One Career Advice sessions from our Dublin office. Our Spotlight Ireland casting experts, Alison Crosbie and Emma Wall, come from a professional casting background, therefore it is an amazing opportunity for our actor members to be able to ask questions and seek advice personal to their own careers.

We are delighted to be able to bring these sessions to Galway for members who cannot journey to Dublin for our monthly offerings. These Galway sessions require booking through the following links:

Thursday 11^th July – Spotlight Career Advice 1-2-1 Sessions at Galway Film Fleadh

Friday 12^th July – Spotlight Career Advice 1-2-1 Sessions at Galway Film Fleadh

Headshot and Self-Tape Clinic

The importance of good headshots and good self-taping techniques cannot be understated. The clinics we are hosting are the perfect opportunity to either get to grips with the basics or to perfect your techniques. The clinics will be hosted by Alison Crosbie and Conor Sweeney. Alison has vast professional casting experience and Conor is constantly in high demand amongst the professional acting community for his self-taping skills. He has been credited by many actors here for helping them to get that job! To book your place in these Galway clinics please use the following links:

Thursday 11^th July 3-4pm – Spotlight Headshot Clinic at Galway Film Fleadh

Friday 12^th July 3-4pm – Spotlight Self-Tape Clinic at Galway Film Fleadh

Casting Workshop

A highlight of our presence at this year’s Fleadh will undoubtably be the “Spotlight on Casting” workshop that Spotlight Ireland are running in association with The Galway Film Fleadh and Hubbard Casting.

John and Ros Hubbard have been at the forefront of Irish and international film casting for over 35 years and their eye for spotting future stars is renowned. They are credited with first spotting the talents of a young Kate Winslet, and helping to launch the careers of actors such as Colin Farrell, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Orlando Bloom and Saoirse Ronan. They have cast films such as the Lord of The Rings Trilogy, The Commitments and The Bourne Ultimatum (to name but a few) and television series such as Father Ted.

During the Hubbard’s casting workshop, the actors will see how casting directors use Spotlight to cast their projects and the Hubbards will spot-pick, review and critique the actors’ (pre-recorded) performance footage. This offers an original and exciting opportunity for actors to prepare and record their scenes, experience how it will be viewed professionally. It also offers attending actors, directors, writers and film makers the opportunity to mingle and be introduced to the casting element of film projects within this ‘pop-up’ environment. In order to reserve your place on this workshop please book directly with The Galway Film Fleadh here.

Galway Film Fleadh are also running an Actors Masterclass with actor Will Forte, a Screenwriting Masterclass with Allison Anders and a Directors Masterclass with Gurinda Chadha as well as a host of industry talks. For more information on these events, take a look here.

Sunday Night Award Ceremony

This year, Galway Film Fleadh will also be honouring the work of John and Ros Hubbard by awarding them the Galway Hooker Award for outstanding achievement in film at Sunday night’s Award Ceremony.

This year we are also celebrating two of our Irish Spotlight members who have been nominated for the prestigious Bingham Ray New Talent Award, Lauryn Canny for her role in “Darlin’” and Lola Petticrew for her role in “A Bump Along The Way”. They are nominated alongside directors Mike Ahearn, Enda Loughman and Tristan Heanue and we wish them both the very best of luck! Both of their films are screening as part of the Fleadh.

Spotlight Ireland’s very own Emma Wall’s film “Pat”, which she wrote and directed, will also be screening at the Fleadh. Pat stars the legendary Rosaleen Linehan alongside the immeasurably talented Moe Dunford.

The Films

We can’t neglect to mention the amazing selection of films screening over the course of the Fleadh. One of the reasons this is such a special festival to us is that it gives us a chance to see so much Irish film in such a short space of time and to see so many of our members’ work. Between the feature and short films, we look forward to seeing not only so many familiar faces, but so much new talent also.

We look cannot wait to see you all there!