Out of the west.

GALWAY FILM FLEADH

GALWAY, IRELAND

JULY 5-10, 2005

Celebrating its 17th anniversary, this year's Galway Film Fleadh was an energetic event held in two main venues in the bustling (and rapidly modernizing) medieval city on the west coast of Ireland. As usual, the Fleadh closely preceded the Galway Arts Festival--when the city nearly bursts at the seams with exhibitions, performances and theatre--and provides a lively start to the festival season.

The Fleadh offered a solid melange of international features. The opening film, On a Clear Day (2004), the first feature by Gaby Dellal, is a feel-good crowd pleaser about a suddenly unemployed middle-aged Glaswegian who determines to swim the English Channel to both prove his worth and to heal the pain of his young son's death more than two decades before. Despite its sentimental and predictable ending and sometimes cliched characters, Dellal's script demonstrates sharp wit and the production is graced with fine actors. In Dear Wendy (2004) by Danish director Thomas Winterburg, a group of teenage pacifists in the mid-western United States take to worshipping firearms. The film exhibits script-writer (and director in his own right) Lars von Trier's trademark minimalism characterized by unnaturally simplistic sets and sparse dialogue although this effort also includes a sporadic, heavy-handed voiceover that merely distracts from the intended commentary on violence, chaos theory, class struggle and the cowboy nature of American culture. The French film Innocence (2004) by Lucile Hadzihalilovic resembles a Lauren Greenfield photograph come to life and as such functions as a pedophile's fantasy. In a lush forest both magical and sinister pre-pubescent girls attend a boarding school run by two statuesque beauties. Each new resident ritualistically arrives from the unknown outside world in a box shaped like a coffin, and is quietly welcomed into a life of recreational swimming, ballet classes and rigid rules. The dark forest contrasts with the pale skin and white uniforms of the girls, becoming a living character providing both shelter and a strong sense of foreboding as older girls disappear each night for mysterious purposes and young ones who try to escape vanish altogether. The emotive power of the film is forced through such techniques as the swelling score and although we are watching the incarceration of young girls who are frightened and confused in the worst case scenario and compliant at best, any compassionate feelings in viewers become as lost as the girls are.

Turtles Can Fly (2004) by Bahman Ghobadi is a quiet yet brutal film about the horrors of war as experienced by displaced children living in a village in Iraqi Kurdistan on the border between Iran and Turkey. Satellite, a 13-year-old black market entrepreneur, befriends a young girl and her armless brother who, like many other children, eke out a living sweeping unexploded mines from farmers' fields to sell back to the American army. They are newcomers to what is left of this village and bring with them a baby girl orphaned by the same people who killed their parents. The quiet scenes (filmed with mostly non-professional child actors) of an armless boy adeptly caring for a crying baby, or a young teen risking his life to save a frightened toddler trapped in a minefield, highlight the compassion that remains among the rubble and human debris of war.

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In Red Coloured Grey Truck (2004 by Srdjan Koljevic) an unlikely pair embark on a chaotic road trip through Yugoslavia during the last days of peace in 1991 to great comic and romantic affect. Le Grand Voyage (2004 by Ismael Ferroukhi) follows a devout Moroccan Muslim who engages his reluctant son to accompany him on a religious pilgrimage from their home in suburban France to Mecca. A predictable road movie in which the two overcome adversity, meet off the wall characters and bond, Le Grand Voyage ultimately redeems itself through its gentle pace, realistic dialogue and the moving turn of events that occur once they arrive at their destination. Paradise Now (2005 by Hany Abu-Assad) is the story of two seemingly apolitical friends living in the West Bank who are called upon to serve as suicide bombers. This chilling, and in some circles controversial, work reveals how non-fanatical citizens can become caught up in a cause.

Numerous strong international documentaries were screened and a number of makers were in attendance. Margaretta D'Arcy's Big Plane, Small Axe (2005) tells the convoluted legal battle of Mary Kelly, an Irish activist who in 2003, during the build-up to the Iraq war, was arrested for vandalizing (with an ax) a United States Navy airplane based at Ireland's Shannon airport. This intimate and moving tale of a national hero took second place in the audience award for feature documentary. Talking of Power (2005) by Nina Lopez of Global Women's Strike in Venezuela explores native women's efforts to establish economic and social rights. With the backing of President Hugo Chavez, numerous benefits were established ranging from social services for housewives to a women's development bank offering credit for cooperatives and associations. These paired short features initiated a lively and lengthy discussion with the filmmakers concerning the historical role of women in inciting revolutions as well as current engagements in Ireland and beyond.

Switch Off (2004) by Manel Mayol reveals the collusion of multi national power corporations and the Chilean government in their efforts to take land and water ownership rights from indigenous peoples. Archival footage of protests is mixed with interviews with current players as the struggle continues (the Spanish hydroelectric company Endesa now owns 67% of Chile's water and the film cited the staggering figure of 80 million people around the world having been directly displaced by dam construction). Although drawn out to feature length with long still shots portraying the Mapuche people and the landscape of Chile in varying seasons, the cinematography creates an homage to the beauty of the country, a testament to the resilience of its people and a wake-up call to people around the world. Estamira (2004 by Marcos Prado) a sensitive portrayal of an aging woman suffering from schizophrenia who lives in a trash dump in Rio de Janeiro proved to be far too long. The initial narrative power in its revelation of the shocking conditions and lack of social services for the Brazilian poor and the myriad ways in which Estamira has found to survive and even thrive become lost in the film's length and repetition.

Keeping the Peace (2005) by Polly Steele follows 500 members of the Irish Defense Force who traveled as peacekeepers to Liberia, the site of the United Nations largest activity. Steele had great access to the soldiers both on their base and during patrols, capturing the sweltering daily heat and increasing nightly tension. Left of the Dial (2004) by Patrick Farrelly and Kate O'Callaghan chronicles the launch (in March 2004) of Air America, an unabashedly liberal radio network intent on competing with the major conservative talk shows. In just a few short weeks, however, the network was on the brink of collapse amid allegations of financial transgressions by its founder. The filmmakers' fly-on-the-wall style exposes the good, the bad and the ugly inherent in this extraordinary story.

Of the handful of American films screened, two independents stand out. The Dying Gaul (2004) by Craig Lucas is a psychological thriller that pays respects to the film noir tradition. Initially merely bored and curious, a Hollywood wife finds herself unable to turn back from an eerie and ultimately deadly game of cat and mouse with her husband's lover. A smart script, solid acting and a filming style that high-lights the isolation of each character amid the opulence of the setting raise the film from the banal levels of typical contemporary thrillers. Greg Araki's latest film, the provocative Mysterious Skin (2004), is a haunting work about the search for personal identity, the desperation of truth-telling and fantasy-seeking, of finding oneself and losing touch simultaneously.

Irish features predominate at this homegrown festival. The Mighty Celt (2005 by Pearse Elliott), essentially the story of a boy and his dog, offers strong portrayals and a blissfully unpredictable ending. Hill 16 (2005), an independent feature by Dermot Doyle, demonstrates how a strong lead actor, a solid (albeit perhaps too complicated) script and good pacing can turn a film made with only one camera for under $20,000 into an engaging action comedy. The closing night film, Short Order (2005 by Anthony Byrne), is a predictably over-acted and sexually suggestive fantasy set in and around an all-night food counter in the back alleys of a colorful, rainy and nameless European city. The imbalanced pacing makes it difficult to appreciate the profound monologues and witty repartee that follow the long stretches of absurdity.

Despite a few technical difficulties, the myriad programs of Irish short films demonstrated the wealth of issues being addressed by dozens of talented emerging Irish filmmakers. Documentary shorts included a focus on Irish organizations ranging from Self Help Development International to the Maam Women's Group in Connemara to a support group for teenage mothers. Among the numerous high-lights were A Taxing Night (2005 by Brian O'Neill and Paul Bushe), which follows the eccentric cast of characters who ride in a single taxi during the course of one evening, Soldier (2005 by Martin Brennan), a powerful statement on the "Troubles" in Ireland, and the audience award winner for best Irish short documentary, Idir Dha Shaol (Between Two Lives, 2005 by John Mallon), the poignant story of a formerly homeless Irishman. There were several films (mostly shorts) screened in Irish, including the 1977 short feature Poitin by Bob Quinn, who described it as a "deromanticism of Connemara." This first feature filmed in Irish follows the tale of an aging producer of poitin (the Irish equivalent of moonshine) and the two young ruffians who rob him. The captivating short Cant (2005 by Mairin Seoighe) exposes the historic Traveller's language of the title and its current applications in educational settings in an effort to avoid its extinction.

The audience choice feature winner was Pavee Lackeen (2005) by Perry Ogden, a cinema verite with mostly non-professional actors who are travellers playing characters similar to themselves. Although the festival is heavily weighted with Irish films and appreciative, mostly native audiences, Pavee Lackeen is an authentic exploration of a unique culture sorely underrepresented in modern cultural production. As such, it is a prime example of the strength of this festival, which gives voice to those willing to share their stories.

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For more information about the Galway Film Fleadh see www.galwayfilmfleadh.com.