DFF is delighted to be associated with Cork Film Centre and The Siamsa Gallery in presenting Blood, Sweat and Gears, a photographic and video installation by Chris Hurley. The exhibition will open this Wednesday evening the 5th of November in the Siamsa Gallery at 6. The exhibition will run until November 22nd. The instillation is based on Mick Murphy, known as the Iron Man. Mick won the Ras in 1958, training with weights made from stone, drinking blood and eating raw meat.He was also known as a circus performer, a boxer and a wrestler.

The Dingle Film Festival would like to thank everyone for making the festival such a success. Our guests, audience, sponsors, patrons and venues. Our Gallery for 2008 will be up on the site very shortly. Please have a look over the press the festival received for the festival.

The second Dingle Film Festival opened in the Greenlane Gallery to a packed house. Guests present included Gabriel Byrne, his partner Anne george, Teri Hayden, The Peck family,Veronique, Anthony and Cecilia with her partner Daniel Voll and their 2 children, Barbara Kopple, Garrett Brown. There was a wonderful atmosphere and people enjoyed a glass of wine or pint of Guinness. Maurice Galway made an opening speech to the collected crowd. Afterwards everyone moved on to The Phoenix Cinema where a live performance by Nico Brown was performed with Maurice Galways short film clouds before the opening feature film, The Boy in the Stripped Pyjamas. Pat Kerins was in attendance from Disney. The opening party was held in The Dingle Bay Hotel.

The Gregory Peck Award For excellence in the Art of Film was presented to Gabriel Byrne by Kevin Moriarty following a screening of A Conversation with Gregory Peck to a completely sold out theatre on Friday night. Gabriel Byrne told the audience in the Phoenix Cinema that it was an honour to be mentioned in the same breath as Gregory Peck. Producer Cecilia Peck, and its 2 time Oscar winning Director Barbara Kopple, introduced A Conversation... at the beginning of the evening. Gregory Pecks wife Veronique also attended the screening. It was an unforgettable evening full of emotion and joy.

Garrett Brown's lecture was a true marvel with the most exciting insights into the use of the Stedicam in motion picture today being illustrated by its inventor and master. Garrett not only illustrated on screen some of the greatest uses of the moving camera, but also some of the worst uses. The best of movies were used including Carlitos Way, Marathon Man, Rocky, The Shining and Eyes Wide Shut. A scene from Frankenstein was used at one point to illustrate how not to use the stedicam. Advertisements were also projected to illustrate the use of the Sky Cam and Garrett shot some footage with the audience using his Merlin which gave a very real insight into how revolutionary this equipment is. Over 60 people participated in the workshop, surrounding Garrett at the end of his talk, wanting more from him. He spoke with everyone and was very generous with his time. Thinking back with pleasure on our sojourn with you in Dingle, Garrett said recently.


The Wackness had a 70 percent capacity and went down really well with the audience. Later that night a private party was held in the home of Susan Callery with all guests in attendance. The night was a fund raiser for the festival with food by the world famous Half Door restaurant, music and an almost a full moon raising. Actor Aidan Gillen was also in attendance.

The weather played a perfect role, clearing at night to allow for energetic banter outside local pubs, the festivals nightly parties in venues such as houses, cafes and hotels. Wet by day increasing the festival's box office. Ned Dowds film State of Grace drew a large crowd, Philip Kings interview with Anthony Wall could have continued all day with Dylan fans hanging on every word and Se Merry Doyles interview with Barbara Kopple was most insightful with one of the worlds leading documentary makers, Barbara Kopple.

The Visual Arts Programme, In Pursuit 4, was opened in the Siamsa Gallery by Jenny Haughton of The Arts Council and works were also on exhibition in private and public spaces throughout the Dingle peninsula. Cork Film Centre provided much of the equipment, which included several projectors, 14 X T.V monitors, 14 DVD players and various sound systems.

The Festival appeared in 56 news items both nationally and internationally and on many .com sites including Variety and HBO. Interviews took place on Tubridy, Lyric FM, Spin SW, IFTN, RTE.ie and Radio Kerry.

Maurice Galway, CEO, said he could not have been happier with the Festival, all guests and festivals goers were very enthusiastic with the festival and already plans are underway for the 3rd edition which he promises will not disappoint.

The Festival closed with a screening of To Kill A Mockingbird, another sold out event and the film was introduced by both Cecilia and Anthony Peck.

The Dingle Film Festival will present a special 35mm print screening,of the Oscar winning film To Kill a Mockingbird,starring Gregory Peck. This rarely seen print is being flown in from Los Angeles especially for the occasion and presents an unique opportunity to see this classic Hollywood film in its original format.
The film will close the festival in the Phoenix Cinema on Sunday evening 14th September and will be introduced by Gregory Pecks daughter, Cecilia.

The festival opens on the 11th Sept. in the greenlane Gallery and will be followed by a screening of The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas.

Special guests attending include:

Gabriel Byrne (Jindabyne)
Cecilia Peck (Shut Up & Sing)
Oscar Winner, Garrett Brown (The Shinning, Rocky, Return of the Jedi)
2 time Oscar winner, Barbara Kopple (Harlan County USA, Wild Man Blues)
Ned Dowd (Apocalypto, Last of the Mohicans, State of Grace)
Kevin Moriarty, MD Ardmore Studios,
Anthony Wall (No Direction Home, The Other side of the Mirror)
Aidan Gillen (The Wire, Queer as Folk)
Anthony Peck (Free Money)
Se Merry Doyle (Patrick Kavanagh: No Mans Fool)
and Philip King (Beal Tuinne, Other Voices).

The Dingle Film Festival announced Gabriel Byrne as the first recipient of the Gregory Peck Award for Excellence in the Art of Film. Gregory Peck once said the secret of film acting is complete candor with the audience, when you let them see the real you - and this perfectly captures the essence of Gabriel in his many roles and makes him an ideal choice for this new prestigious award said festival director Maurice Galway. Byrne, who is nominated for an Emmy Award for his role in HBO's In Treatment, will be in Dingle to receive the award during the festival, which runs from September 11 to September 14. It is an honour to accept the Gregory Peck Award in memory of a great actor whose work transcends time and continues to inspire said Gabriel Byrne.


The award will be made in conjunction with Gregory Pecks family who are delighted that the award is being presented in Dingle. My fathers grandmother came from Dingle, his granduncle was the Hero, Thomas Ashe and any time he visited there, he always had a sense of coming home says Pecks daughter Cecilia. So the whole family is looking forward to attending the Dingle Film festival next month. The festival has commissioned local artist John Holstead to design the award, which will be unveiled at the festivals opening reception in the Greenlane Gallery, Dingle on September 11.

Kevin Moriarty, MD of Ardmore Studios, will present Gabriel Byrne with The Gregory Peck Award following a special screening of A Conversation with Gregory Peck on the Friday night of the festival in The Phoenix Cinema. Its producer, Cecilia Peck and director Barbara Kopple will introduce the film to the audience. Irish poet Medbh McGuckian has written a poem on Gregory Peck, which she will recite at the event. Mr. Pecks wife, Veronique and son, Anthony will also be travelling from LA for this special occasion. The festival will open with a screening of John Boynes best selling novel The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas. Winner of the audience award at this years Sundance Film Festival, Ben Kingsleys new film The Wackness is sure to prove popular with the Dingle punters. A huge hit with audiences at film festivals around the world and described by Rolling Stone Magazine as this years great rock movie, Anvil: The Story of Anvil documents the story of an ageing rock band, who refuse to give up on the dream of someday being big enough to play stadium rock.

Two time Oscar winner Barbara Kopple will present a masterclass on her documentary film Wild Man Blues. She will also present, along with co-director Cecilia Peck, the award winning film Shut Up & Sing .The screening will be followed by a Q&A with the two filmmakers.

Another Oscar winner and inventor of the Steadicam camera Garrett Brown will be on hand to talk about The Art of the Moving Camera while producer Ned Dowd Apocalypto, Last of the Mohicans wiill give a production masterclass on the classic American film noir State of Grace starring Sean Penn, Ed Harris and Gary Oldman. BAFTA and Grammy winning producer Anthony Wall will be bringing it all back to Dingle with two films on Bob Dylan Dylan in the Madhous and The Other Side of the Mirror, Dylan at the Newport Folk Festival 1963 -1965.

A visual film progamme, curated by Maurice Galway for the Siamsa Gallery and Cork Film Centre will also be presended along with locally produced films, Beal Tuinne and Vinyl Frontier.
To close the festival Cecilia Peck will introduce a special screening of her fathers definitive role as Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird for which he was awarded the Academy Award Oscar for Best Actor.
Tickets details are on our website or available at our office in The Garden Cafe in Dingle.

Our friend and collegue Chips Chipperfield recently passed away. Our thoughts are with all his friends and his family. He was much loved locally and was a dear friend to so many. Chips was best know for producing The Beatles Anthology for which he won a Grammy. He was a board member of the Dingle Film Festival and our adviser on so many things. Chips was directly involved in organising this years programme. We will miss him dearly.

Ventry based sculptor, John Holstead, has been commissioned by the Dingle Film Festival to design The Gergory Peck Award which will be presented at the festival in September. The award, which is in memory of the late actor who had close family ties to Dingle, will be for Excellence in the Art of Film.
Well known for his unique sculptures, John has exhibited throughout Ireland, with his most recent exhibition i to i taking place in Dingle.

On being asked to create the award John said: It is a rather daunting task to be asked to create a work for such an icon of the film world, and I feel honoured that I should have been chosen. My intention is to create a work that brings together the threads of Gregory Pecks career and his connections with the Dingle Peninsula, by using lengths of film taken from his work entwined in a glass tube, and closed at the ends with local stone. I have been very fortunate in having Kilcummin based glass craftsman, Terrence McSweeney, and the Ventry based stone carver, Antonio Fazio to help me to bring the idea to fruition, so that the recipient, whoever he or she may be, will have a piece that is very much ‘of Kerry.
The recipient will be announced shortly and the award will be presented on the last day of the festival Sunday 14 September.

The Award will be unvailed in the Greenlane Gallery at the opening of the festival on Thursday 11th September.

Ventry based sculptor, John Holstead, has been commissioned by the Dingle Film Festival to design The Gergory Peck Award which will be presented at the festival in September. The award, which is in memory of the late actor who had close family ties to Dingle, will be for Excellence in the Art of Film.
Well known for his unique sculptures, John has exhibited throughout Ireland, with his most recent exhibition i to i taking place in Dingle.

On being asked to create the award John said: It is a rather daunting task to be asked to create a work for such an icon of the film world, and I feel honoured that I should have been chosen. My intention is to create a work that brings together the threads of Gregory Pecks career and his connections with the Dingle Peninsula, by using lengths of film taken from his work entwined in a glass tube, and closed at the ends with local stone. I have been very fortunate in having Kilcummin based glass craftsman, Terrence McSweeney, and the Ventry based stone carver, Antonio Fazio to help me to bring the idea to fruition, so that the recipient, whoever he or she may be, will have a piece that is very much ‘of Kerry.
The recipient will be announced shortly and the award will be presented on the last day of the festival Sunday 14 September.

The Award will be unvailed in the Greenlane Gallery at the opening of the festival on Thursday 11th September.

Ventry based sculptor John Holstead has been commissioned by the Dingle Film Festival to design The Gergory Peck Award which will be presented at the festival in September. The award which is in memory of the late actor who had close family ties to Dingle will be for Excellence in the Art of Film.
Well known for his unique sculptures John has exhibited throughout Ireland with his most recent exhibition i to i taking place in Dingle.

On being asked to create the award John said It is a rather daunting task to be asked to create a work for such an icon of the film world, and I feel honoured that I should have been chosen.
My intention is to create a work that brings together the threads of Gregory Pecks career and his connections with the Dingle Peninsula, by using lengths of film taken from his work entwined in a glass tube, and closed at the ends with local stone.
I have been very fortunate in having Kilcummin based glass craftsman Terrence McSweeney and the Ventry based stone carver Antonio Fazio to help me to bring the idea to fruition so that the recipient, whoever he or she may be will have a piece that is very much of Kerry.
The recipient will be announced shortly and the award will be presented on the last day of the festival Sunday 14 September.

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).