The Foyle Film Festival marks its MILESTONE 25th year with a high quality programme of feature films, workshops, competition screenings, outreach and special events. Over the last 25 years the Foyle Film Festival has become renowned for attracting top industry professionals to the city. Past guests have included high profile names such as: Brendan Gleeson, Julie Christie, Terry George, Neil Jordan, Wim Wenders, Kenneth Branagh, Roddy Doyle, Stephen Frears, Jimmy McGovern - to name but a few.
This year is no exception as the festival launches with the Irish Premiere of ASHES - the latest film from Director Mat Whitecross (The Road To Guantanamo, Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll). The movie stars Ray Winstone (Nil By Mouth, Quadrophenia, Sexy Beast) and Jim Sturgess (One Day, Fifty Dead Men Walking).
Director Mat Whitecross and the star of the film Ray Winstone will attend the Irish Premiere of ASHES to launch the 25th Foyle Film Festival on Wednesday 21 November at the Brunswick Moviebowl. ASHES was executive-produced by Coldplay.
New Irish Cinema is well represented with Jump, and some of the cast - including Martin McCann and Ciaran McMenamin - are scheduled to attend the screening. Filmed in and around Derry-Londonderry, the film has received rave reviews. Also screening is Good Vibrations, which charts the life of Terri Hooley, the DJ instrumental in bringing the punk movement to Belfast and for releasing The Undertones’ legendary single ‘Teenage Kicks’. The directors Lisa Barros D’Sa and Glenn Leyburn, as well as The Undertones, will be in attendance. To coincide with this screening, The Undertones will play a special gig in the Nerve Centre as part of this year’s Festival Club.
In 1999 the Foyle Film Festival became an Oscar® affiliated festival - one of only a handful of such events to enjoy this honour. As a result, recipients of the festival's Light In Motion (LIM) Film Awards, in the categories of Best Short Film and Best Animated Short Film, qualify for consideration in the Short Films category of the Annual Academy Awards®.
While this year’s festival highlights milestone events in politics by taking a digital journey through the peace process, from its earliest days to the recent historic meeting and handshake between The Queen and Sinn Fein’s Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness.
The London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games celebrated the best of human achievement and endeavour. The success of the games inspired millions of people around the world, and provided a lasting legacy for future generations. The example of the London 2012 Olympics serve as an inspiration for our own city as we move towards hosting the inaugural UK City Of Culture 2013.
The Foyle Film Festival is the flagship project of the Nerve Centre - Northern Ireland’s leading creative media arts centre spearheading a diverse range of arts events, cutting edge projects, training opportunities, state-of-the-art production facilities, and Creative Learning Centres in Derry~Londonderry and Belfast. The festival acknowledges the talent, expertise, and dedication, of the management and staff of the Nerve Centre as a driving force behind the development and enduring success of the Foyle Film Festival.
This year the Foyle Film Festival is delighted to announce a new partnership with the Brunswick Moviebowl.
While City Of Derry Crystal continue to support the festival through sponsorship of CCEA Moving Image Arts Student Awards and the Light In Motion (LIM) Competition Awards.
The city of Derry-Londonderry is renowned for extending a warm welcome to visitors old and new, and the Foyle Film Festival has been very lucky over recent years to be able to rely on a great hospitality partnership with the Tower Hotel. This year the festival is also delighted to announce a new partnership with The Ramada Da Vinci’s Hotel.
The 25th Foyle Film Festival gratefully acknowledges the support of its core funders Northern Ireland Screen and Derry City Council.
In 2012 the Foyle Film Festival celebrates a MILESTONE 25th year by planning for and looking towards the future.