First Fingal Film Festival to launch this weekend

THE organisers behind a new Fingal-based film
festival, which opens with Sean Penn’s new film partially shot in the area,
have announced that IFTA Award Winner Martin McCann is giving a masterclass for
budding actors during the three day festival.

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The inaugural festival, which takes place from March
21-23, is hosting the gala opening screening of

‘This Must Be The Place’,
starring Penn and young Irish actress, Eve Hewson, at UCI Cinema Blanchardstown
on Wednesday March 21.

All festival films will be screened in UCI Cinema
Blanchardstown with masterclasses and Q&A screenings taking pace at
Draíocht at the Blanchardstown Centre.

The Crowne Plaza in Blanchardstown, where the
festival’s production offices are based for the week along with some of the
masterclasses, is offering discounted rates for people who need accommodation
during the event.

Masterclasses taking place over the three days will be
hosted by leading industry names including BAFTA winner Aisling Walsh and
Academy Award winner Arthur Lappin.

IFTA winner McCann will host the actors masterclass.
He’s known for his role as

‘Bono’ in the film

‘Killing Bono’ and also Phaedrus
in the 2010 remake of

‘Clash of the Titans’. He’s also starring in the new HBO
series

‘The Pacific.

Other industry experts expected at the festival
include Emmy nominated Joseph Conlon, and Sylvia Stevens, internationally
acclaimed documentary filmmaker. There will also be another surprise guest
giving masterclasses who will be announced shortly

The festival – which offers a platform for local filmmaking
talent – invited submissions nationally and internationally and received
entries including many from countries such as Brazil, Korea, Germany,
Netherlands, France, Spain as well as from all over Ireland.

A shortlist of films will be honoured in the
festival’s awards ceremony which will be hosted by Comedian Eddie Naessens on
Friday, March 23, at the Wright Venue in Swords.

Managing Director of the festival, Liz Kenny, said the
festival will showcase work produced by gifted filmmakers from across Ireland
and internationally.

“It will also put a spotlight on the burgeoning
talents in the Fingal area,

? she added.

“This is an ideal opportunity for anyone interested to
learn and enhance their skills through the workshops or by coming simply to see
the films that other people are making on the big screen.

?

Festival creative director, Dave Byrne, said films
submitted to the festival were comedic, heart-warming and thought provoking
beautifully directed pieces of work.

“Selecting the films was extremely difficult and not
all films made the final selection due to the number of days allocated for the
screenings during the festival,

? he said.

The festival hopes to bring a big corporate sponsor on
board for next year’s event, which will enable them to extend the schedule and
give more emerging filmmakers a platform to screen their work and meet with
funding bodies and distribution agents.

Full details on screenings and tickets for the Fingal
Film Festival can be found on www.fingalfilmfest.com. There are limited tickets
available for the gala and the award night.