Galway Film Fleadh 2013

The Galway Film Fleadh, Ireland’s biggest film event, screened work from Luxembourg in an extensive showcase of seven recent features, including the world premiere of Love Eternal, a co-production between Ireland and Luxembourg. Love Eternal was directed by Brendan Muldowney and mostly shot in the Grand-Duchy (Red Lion, headed by Pol Cruchten and Jeanne Geiben, was the Luxembourg production company). The Luxembourg showcase was part of the celebratory 25th anniversary edition of the Galway Film Fair.

The presence from the Grand Duchy was further supported by concerts from Luxembourg artists Anders Mergenthaler, Sasha Ley and Nataša Gehl; an exhibition of Luxembourg-based celebrity and stills photographer Fabrizio Maltese and a film criticism workshop by the only Luxembourg member of Fipresci (Fédération internationale de la presse cinématograpique), Boyd van Hoeij.

The cultural events helped forge the idea that films are part of a larger cultural exchange that could be beneficial to all sides. A group of Luxembourg producers also travelled to the Irish coastal city for several networking events that should lead to more Luxembourg-Irish co-productions such as Love Eternal, the story of suicide-obsessed young man who comes back into society after a 10 year absence, and The Runway, the true story of a South American pilot who crashed into a field in Ireland. A co-production treaty was signed in 2011 between the two countries. Besides Muldowney’s new film, the Luxembourg features presented were: the partially animated Hollywood cautionary tale The Congress by Ari Folman (Luxembourg producer: Paul Thiltges Distributions); Doudege wénkel and Hot hot hot (produced by Samsa Film); the documentary Naked Opera (produced by Amour Fou); the drama J’enrage de son absence by actress-turned-director Sandrine Bonnaire (co-produced by Iris Productions) and the animated children’s film Ernest & Célestine (Mélusine Productions). Between a (semi-fictional) documentary, animated films for children and adults and dramas in Luxembourgish, English and French, the wide array of possibilities that (co-)producing in Luxembourg can provide were amply showcased in Ireland. Local audiences got the opportunity to get to know a country they perhaps they little of while Irish film professionals could not only get an idea of the possibilities that the Grand Duchy offers as a film hub but directly contact the Luxembourg producers who attended.

The Luxembourg Film Fund, headed by Guy Daleiden, organized the Luxembourg presence at Galway and the presence of the Luxembourg delegation. Rendez-vous in cinemas in the next couple of years for the concrete results of these no-doubt fruitful efforts. The festival opened on July 9 and ended on July 14 with an awards ceremony also attended by the Irish president, Mr Michael Higgins.