Festival programme unveiled for July’s Galway Film Fleadh

Versatile character actor John C Reilly will be among the special guests attending the Galway Film Fleadh next month.

Reilly, star of Chicago, The Hours and recent Cannes sensation The Lobster, will be the subject of a public interview in the Town Hall Theatre.

The programme for this year's event, which begins on July 7th, was unveiled on Tuesday evening at the Radisson Blu Hotel by festival programmer Gar O'Brien.

“We have put together a programme that plays to our strengths as a uniquely informal, intimate and engaging festival,” he said.

Galway was named a Unesco City of Film in 2014 and the continuing success of the Fleadh - centre of the Irish cinematic summer since 1989 - was unquestionably important in winning that honour.

My Name is Emily

The festival will begin with a screening of Simon Fitzmaurice’s My Name is Emily.

Mr Fitzmaurice, who was diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease in 2008, raised much of the funding for his film via a crowd-sourcing campaign.

My Name is Emily stars Evanna Lynch, graduate of the Harry Potter films, as a teenager travelling across Ireland to meet up with her dad on her 16th birthday.

"We're honoured to screen My Name is Emily as the opening film," Miriam Allen, managing director of the Fleadh, said.

“After watching the film we were moved to tears, not only due to powerful film-making but also by Simon Fitzmaurice’s own inspirational story.”

The Galway Film Fleadh is notable for its focus on new Irish features.

Such pictures as John Carney’s Once and Gerard Barrett’s Glassland had their world premieres at the event.

You’re Ugly Too

Mark Noonan's You're Ugly Too, featuring Aidan Gillen as a man caring for his niece following his recent release from prison, is among the Irish premieres at this year's bash.

Steven Singleton's The Survivalist, starring Martin McCann in a tale of starvation, also make its debut, as does Rachael Moriarty and Peter Murphy's Traders, a thriller starring Killian Scott and Peter O'Meara.

The Fleadh can boast two big domestic premieres from the world of animation.

Song of the Sea

Six months after receiving an Oscar nomination for best animated feature, Tomm Moore’s Song of the Sea, produced by the Cartoon Saloon in Kilkenny, finally goes before Irish viewers.

A certain nominee at next year’s Oscars, Pixar’s delightful Inside Out, will also receive its Irish premiere at the 2015 Fleadh.

Pete Docter and Jonas Rivera, directors of that head-expanding comedy, will attend the screening and will receive a Galway Hooker award, the Fleadh's highest honour.

Also picking up that esteemed gong this year are Micheál Ó Meallaigh, commissioning director of TG4, and the great Iranian director Mohsen Makhmalbaf.

The Galway Film Fleadh runs until July 12th.