The 3 winners at last years Dingle Film Festival are to be screened in the 3 houses of the prestigious Soho House group. Head programmer with Soho House Mandy Kean said The inaugural DFF was such a resounding success, contributed to by the high standard of shorts entries, skilled, innovative programming of the AD and the enthusiasm of the people of Dingle. We look forward to continuing our DFF connection in 2008. Overall winner, selected by Sir Alan Parker, Steph Greens New Boy will screen with Mike Leighs new film Happy Go Lucky at Babington House (11th April), Soho House (16th April) and before Lucia Puenzos XXY, winner of the Critics Week at Cannes 2007, at the Electric House (4th May). Orla McHardys The Grass is Greener, selected by Colin Vaines, will support Morgan Spurlocks Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden, in which the director tours the Middle East discussing the war on terror with the local people, at the Babington and Soho Houses (30th April/2 May). Pavle Vuckovics Minus, selected by Ruairi Robinson, will be screened with Mitchell Lichtensteins Teeth, a comedy/gorefest in which the heroine literally gets her teeth into it, at the same venues on 19th and 23rd May. Preparations are well under way for Dingle Film Festival 08 with many distinguished guests already lined up. However, there will not be a shorts competition this year but the festival will include a number of short screenings so organisers are still seeking high quality shorts (particularly as gaeilge and also shorts with a music theme).

We are happy to announce our festival dates for 2008. The Dingle Film Festival will open on Thursday 11th September and close on Sunday the 14th September.

We are also happy to announce that a very special guest to the festival this year will be Cecilia Peck.

DFF will honour the Hollywood screen legend Gregory Peck who won an Oscar for his performance in To Kill A Mocking Bird. Pecks connection with Dingle has been well documented, with many of his relatives living there. DFF will also welcome his daughter Cecilia Peck to give a public interview discussing her fathers roots in Dingle and his legendary career. A screening of her film In Conversation with Gregory Peck will take place at the festival. This film was produced by Cecilia Peck and directed by 2 time Oscar winning director Barbara Kopple.

Gregory Peck: A Dingle Legend
I expect that every Irish-American coming to Ireland says visiting makes them feel good to be here. But I feel drawn to Dingle, I feel a sense of coming home. For me that is what it is. This is where my grandmother, Catherine Ashe, came from.

The inaugural Dingle Film Festival closed on Sunday evening with the announcement of the 3 winning films. The top prize of 2000 euro for Best Film went to New Boy directed by Steph Green and produced by Tamara Anghie for Zanzibar Films. Based on a short story by Roddy Doyle this poignant and comedic film deftly captures the experience of being the new boy in school through the eyes of Joseph a nine-year-old African boy. The Best Digital film was won by the Serbian film Minus directed by Pavel Vuckovic. It tells the strange tale of 2 people on a weekend away in a mountain house. Orla McHardy who has just completed her studies at IADT in Dun Laoghaire won Best First Short with The Grass is Greener an animated short based on the poem by Ivor Cutler. Colin Vaines also gave a special mention to The Guitar Players Girlfriend produced by Charlie Chu and directed by Janet Harvey who both attended the festival from LA. Organisers Maurice Galway and Tom Hogan were delighted with the success of the festival. The weather was glorious over the four days so the many festival visitors saw Dingle at its finest and despite the good weather all screenings and workshops had very strong attendances said Maurice. We are already looking forward to next year when we hope to bring the people of Dingle an even bigger and better festival.

Thank you to all the film makers who attended the festival representing their films and especially to those who travelled so far from Austin Texas Vancover and LA. I know you will all agree with me when I say the energy at the festival was simply wonderful with so many people and great films contributing to the success of this our first year.

For those of you who got to visit the Blasket Islands and saw the hundred dolphins out in the bay I know your time in Dingle was a special one and will not be forgotton for a long time to come. Thank you and lets meet again next year.

We will be bringing you news of our incredibly successful first festival in the coming days. For now I want to say a major thank you to Mr. Robert Condon Kerrynet Solutions for putting this website together and doing such a wonderful job of keeping it updated. Thank you Rob.

Maurice Galway, Sarah Miles and Sir Alan Parker at Inch beach Thursday 6th of September launching the Dingle Film Festival

NED DOWD EXECUTIVE PRODUCER OF APOCALYPTO

Sunday 9th at 10.30 am in St.James Church Dingle

Not to be Missed

To Book Ned Dowd and other Workshops call Tom on 087 2400606

4 Irish Premieres amongst 6 Features at Dingle Film Fest

Apart from its short film competition, masterclasses, workshops and panel discussions the DFF will screen 4 Irish Premieres over the course of its 4 day run.

The festival will open with Julie Delplys directorial debut, the delightful 2 Days in Paris starring Delpy and American comedian Adam Goldberg. Described as a biting romantic comedy Stephen Holden of the New York Times says it reveals more about emotional and sexual chemistry than any film I can recall.

Andrew Piddingtons eagerly anticipated drama The Killing of John Lennon, which is not due for release until late October, explores the bizarre and warped mind of Mark Chapman as it traces his journey from Hawaii to New York to murder Lennon. An Indie Masterpiece CNN

The festival also features 2 Irish Premieres for children from Belgium the beautifully animated Azur et Asmar by director Michel Ocelot (Kirikou and the Sorceress) and the profoundly moving The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey starring Tom Berenger and Joely Richardson. The films director Bill Clark and producer Ros Hubbard will be on hand to introduce the film. The screening will be followed by a tea party for the children in Benners Hotel.

Regarded by many as one of the great Australian movies Ten Canoes will be given its first Kerry screening and Puffball the latest film from world renowned director Nicolas Roeg, which was shot on location in Ireland, will be introduced by the films producer Julie Baines.

Senator Eoghan Harris and Producer Ned Dowd to Masterclass at Dingle Film Festival
The Dingle Film Festival is pleased to announce a series of top class workshops during the festival
Senator Eoghan Harris will give a one day Master Class on The 3 Principles of Plot an intensive hands-on practical introduction to the fundamentals of plotting a feature film. Senator Harris is a well renowned guest lecturer on film at various colleges including the Gregory Peck Film School, UCD, the National Film School (DLIADT) Dun Laoghaire, the National Media College, Dublin; and Moonstone Labs, Leipzig, Germany. The master class will take place on Saturday 8th September starting at 10.00am sharp and finishing at 5.00pm. It is limited to 25 people and will cost 25 euro so early booking is advisable.
Irelands leading Lighting Camerman Eoin Mcpolin will join with Brian Nolan lecturer in Film and TV Production in a workshop titled The Beginers Guide to Digital Creation Tools and Lighting with HD cameras which will give an overview to the main low budget tools available to digital filmmakers and the secrets of lighting with HD cameras. This is a 2 hour workshop on Saturday morning and costs 15.euro.
Internationally renowned film producer Ned Dowd (Apolcalypto, King Arthur, Last of the Mohicans) will present a Master Class on Production and Finance in Film a rare insight into what it takes to finance and produce a Hollywood blockbuster. The master class is on Sunday morning 8th September and costs 15 euro. For bookings and further info contact tom@kerryiff.com

Oscar nominated Irish film director Ruairi Robinson (50% Grey, Silent City) has joined Alan Parker and Colin Vaines as an adjudicator at the Dingle Film Festival. Ruairi, whose work in digital film has been widely acclaimed, will judge in the Best Digital Film category.

International Dingle based visual artist Andrew Duggan will be holding screen tests during the festival for his latest video based art project iarsma_remnant. The project will investigate the legacy of David Lean's film Ryans Daughter and the dramatic effect of a given action on a community and on the social and geographical landscape. The screen tests, which will use dialogue from Ryans Daughter, will take place in the famous Krugers Bar in Dun Chaoin on Saturday 8th September between 10.00am - 1.00pm and is open to all. The completed work will be presented in New York in 2008.