The Galway Film Fleadh is back with inspiring and entertaining films & events in Galway from July 11th to 16th!

The 35th Galway Film Fleadh will feature Know Your Place, The Unbalanced, I like Movies, I Must Away, I have Electric Dreams, The Effects of Lying  at Pálás Screen 2 on the 12th.

Screenings:
Know Your Place at 11am / Irish Premiere
Winner of the Grand Jury Prize at Seattle International Film Festival, Know Your Place is a slice-of-life road drama set in present-day Seattle. The film follows best friends, Robel (15, Eritrean-American) and Fahmi (15, Ethiopian-American), who embark on a journey to drop off a suitcase to a friend traveling back to Eritrea because of a family member’s sudden illness. An unexpected turn transmutes Robel’s simple errand into an odyssey across the rapidly gentrifying city; navigating directions to make his delivery on time, along with the challenges of familial responsibility, self-identification, and dislocation amid the ongoing redevelopment and displacement of the only community he’s ever known as home. Presented in association with Chroma International Film Festival and Young Irish Makers.
Post Show discussion will follow

The Unbalanced at 2pm / Irish Premiere
Zuzana Piussi’s first fiction feature sees translator Nadia (50) finds new stability with her daughter (12) after a difficult post-divorce period. She soon discovers that there is a woman living in the neighborhood who turns out to be more than eccentric. A futile effort to help the woman ends with a grotesque portrayal of a system in which ignoring problems is an essential survival tool. This film is based on true events.

I like Movies at 4pm / Irish Premiere
Following its premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, I Like Movies, Chandler Levack’s directorial debut is a nostalgia-infused coming-of-age story about hyper-ambitious teenage cinephile Lawrence Kweller (Isaiah Lehtinen) who dreams of attending his dream film school. In order to raise the hefty tuition fee, he gets his dream job at the local video store, Sequels. Wracked with anxiety about his future, Lawrence begins alienating the most important people in his life – his best friend Matt Macarchuck (Percy Hynes White), his single mother Terri (Krista Bridges) – all while developing a complicated friendship with his older female manager, Alana (Romina D’Ugo). As graduation looms ever closer, Lawrence faces some painful realisations about himself.

I Must Away at 6.15pm
Dennis left Ireland in the midst of the financial crisis to find work abroad. Hashem was a politician in Bangladesh but had to flee for Spain after a change in government and threats on his life. Alicia left Peru for Chile, and then Chile for Spain, after falling into debt selling goods on the streets. By age 18, Ali had fled Afghanistan, Iran and Sweden, finally reaching France, where he hoped to receive asylum. Mary, Dennis’ grandmother, and her neighbour, John, stayed in Ireland for most of their lives, and lived just a few miles from where they were born. In his first feature, director Dennis Harvey explores what it means to be a migrant. I Must Away follows four migrants who have each left home to rebuild their lives abroad. Narrated through a series of letters from the director to his grandmother, the film disentangles roots, land and identity, and explores the unequal distribution of rights and privileges in our age of migration.
Post Show discussion will follow

I have Electric Dreams at 8.15pm / Irish Premiere
Set in Costa Rica, the film follows Eva, a strong-willed 16-year-old girl who lives with her mother, her younger sister and their cat, but desperately wants to move in with her estranged father. Clinging onto him as he goes through a second adolescence, she balances between the tenderness and sensitivity of teenage life and the ruthlessness of the adult world. Bathed in a richly textured imagery and soaked in raw sensitivity, I Have Electric Dreams captures the thin line between love and hate, in a world where aggression and rage are intertwined with the vertigo of female sexual awakening.

The Effects of Lying at 8.15pm / International Premiere
The Effects of Lying is an indie comedy that follows Naveen, a loyal husband and loving father who lives his life by the book. After finding his teenage daughter Simran secretly gorging and his dissatisfied wife Sangeeta in bed with his brother, decades of festering family secrets are exposed. Naveen is faced with reconciling with the core relationships that have helped him define his identity. Without the roles of husband, father, or brother, who is he? He has allowed himself to be passive too long, pushed around by the currents of other people’s whims and desires. He must learn to take responsibility for his own life and his own happiness. Featuring a diverse range of fully rounded South Asian characters played by notable cast Ace Bhatti (Bohemian Rhapsody, Line of Duty), Laila Rouass (Holby City, Spooks), and Lauren Patel (Everybody’s Talking About Jamie), alongside Navin Chowdhry (The End of the F***ing World, Our Girl), Shaheen Khan (Bend it Like Beckham) and Mark Williams (Harry Potter).
Post Show discussion will follow

Photos courtesy of Galway Film Fleadh