Kerry's fourth annual film festival started at the Great Blasket Centre in DúChaoin in west Kerry last night with a screening of a 1967 anthropological documentary The Village, discovered in the archives of the Irish Film Institute.
The Village looked at how modernisation affected the inhabitants of Dún Chaoin in west Kerry in the 1960s. In all 73 films - twice as many as last year - have been selected for competition in categories including animation, experimental, international and Irish short film, as well as best director, sponsored by Ardmore Studios. Adjudicators include film-maker Neil Jordan; director of the Irish Museum of Modern Art, Mr Enrique Juncosa; the film-maker Ms Kirsten Sheridan; director of Brown Bag Films, Mr Cathal Gaffney; the retired film censor, Mr Sheamus Smith; the cinematographer Mr Owen McPolin and the director of the Irish Film Institute, Mr Mark Mulqueen.
Screenings will take place throughout Kerry and the cinemobile is also visiting for the week of the festival.