The 8th Galway African Film Festival (GAFF), a local event with
a global flair, is back offering a unique opportunity for film lovers to view
high quality films not usually available in Ireland. And all for free.
Taking place May 22nd to May 24th (Friday, Saturday & Sunday), the film festival is delighted to again be able to avail of the screening facilities at the Huston School of Film & Digital Media. For the past 7 years, GAFF has been screening African films highlighting the diversity and versatility of this continent; and this year the programme includes films from Uganda, South Africa, Burkina Faso, Guinea Bissau, Morocco, Mali and Rwanda.
The Festival will open with The Road We Travel, a Short Film by UK based Aidan Belizaire. The film tells a lovely story of friendship despite differences in culture, religion and race, and helps to show how cross cultural relationships can change your life for the better. It will be followed by Miners Shot Down (Rehad Desai, South Africa 2014) which has won a number of awards at Human Rights Film Festivals around the world as well as the Jury Award for Best South African Documentary at the Durban International Film Festival, Best Documentary at FESPACO 2015, and the Audience Prize at the Black Movie Film Festival in Geneva 2015. This campaigning film aims to tell a different story of the miners' strike in South Africa.
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| Miners shot down |
The first day of the
festival will close with Soleils (Directors: Olivier Delahaye & Dani Kouyaté,
Burkina Faso / France 2013). Funny and thrilling, in parts love story in parts
philosophical tale, this film embraces the importance of universal wisdom with
a touch of magic that will stay with you for the night.
There will be a great start on Saturday with Lantanda (Gorka Gamarra, Guinea Bissou / Basque Country 2014) a story of music, the right to use one’s own language, and associated challenges, accompanied by a fantastic soundtrack - it’s a festival must-see. The North of Africa will be represented by nostalgic Adios Carmen (Mohamed Amin Benamraouri, Morocco 2013) where historic events will be meshed with a Moroccan version of Romeo and Juliet.
An interesting documentary, especially for the lively Galway music scene, is Sunday’s The Last Song Before The War (KileyKraskouskas, Mali / USA 2013) with amazing performances at Mali’s 'Festival in the Desert' and the Festival’s struggle to survive the country’s political, economic and religious issues. GAFF are also proud to be able to screen Drexciya (Simon Rittmeier, Germany / Burkina Faso 2012), a short film that will turn your world upside down. The grand finale of 8th Galway African Film Festival is Things of the Aimless Wanderer (Kivu Ruhorahoza, Rwanda / UK 2014) by the award winning director Kivu Ruhorahoza, who impresses with loosely connected narrative shards based around relations between “locals” and Westerners.
Places are limited and strictly on a first come first served basis - so make sure you do not miss this extraordinary film experience. For more information on listings and times, and to download your very own festival brochure, see www.galwayafricanfilmfesti
For further information contact:
Heike Vornhagen, 086 2100547
Joanna Kasinska, outreach@galwayafricanfilm
