Galway African Film Festival

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Galway African Film Festival
Galwayafricanfilmfestival.png
Location Galway, Ireland
Founded2008
Disestablished2019
Festival datelate May / early June
Language African languages, French, English

Galway African Film Festival (GAFF) was an annual African film festival which took place annually in Galway in Ireland in late May / early June. It was typically scheduled to coincide with Africa Day, and aimed to "showcase the quality and diversity [..] of African films". [1] The festival was organised by the Galway One World Centre in collaboration with the Huston School of Film & Digital Media and the Galway Film Society. Venues for screenings of films included the Town Hall Theatre, Nuns Island Theatre [2] and Huston School of Film & Digital Media. Previous festivals were supported by Irish Aid, Galway City Arts Office, Galway City Council and the Galway Advertiser . [3] [4] [5] The final festival was held in 2019, with organisers confirming that no festival would be held in 2020 and that the event was "no more" by 2022. [6] [7]

Contents

History

The Galway African Film Festival was established in 2008. [8] Previous festival programmes included films from several genres of African cinema, including comedy, science fiction, horror and contemporary films. [9]

Guests at the 2009 festival included Tandeka Matatu, one of the producers of Jerusalema (South Africa). [10] Films shown in 2010 included The Figurine Araromire (Nigeria), Mascarades (France/Algeria) and A Sting in a Tale (Ghana), [11] while in 2011, the festival's programme included Benda Bilili (Congo), Microphone (Egypt) and The Atlete (Ethiopia). [12] In 2012, showings included Viva Riva, an award-winning Congolese drama, two Egyptian films about the Arab Spring of 2011 and an Ethiopian / UK co-production, Town of Runners. [13]

The 11th Galway African Film festival was held over three days in June 2018. [14] The 2019 festival programme included showings of the documentaries Finding Fela and Anbessa . [15]

There was no event in 2020. [6] By 2022, the festival was no longer running, with a Facebook post from the organisers indicating that the "Galway African Film Festival is no more". [7]

See also

References

  1. "Africa at the movies". nigeriafilms.com. 2010. Archived from the original on 23 May 2010.
  2. "Out of Africa: the reel story". Irish Times. 20 May 2011. Retrieved 19 October 2025.
  3. Andrews, Kernan (13 May 2014). "Galway African Film Festival". Galway Advertiser.
  4. "Hard decisions in approving arts grants to ninety-three groups". Galway Advertiser. 10 March 2016.
  5. "Sponsors & Supporters". Galway African Film Festival. Archived from the original on 19 May 2015.
  6. 1 2 "We're really really sorry but for personal reasons we will not be able to organise the African Film Festival for 2020". Galway African Film Festival Facebook profile. 23 January 2020 via Facebook.
  7. 1 2 "Really sorry to announce that the Galway African Film Festival is no more". Galway African Film Festival Facebook profile. 22 October 2022 via Facebook.
  8. "About Us". Galway African Film Festival. 16 February 2011. Retrieved 20 June 2024.
  9. "About Us – Who we are". Galway African Film Festival. 10 April 2015. Retrieved 27 August 2024.
  10. "What's on in Galway". Galway Advertiser. 4 June 2009. Archived from the original on 23 June 2024.
  11. Andrews, Kernan (20 May 2010). "Africa at the movies". Galway Advertiser. Retrieved 18 August 2010.
  12. O'Hare, John (12 May 2011). "Fourth Annual Galway African Film Festival to take place in May". Galway Advertiser. Advertiser.ie. p. 9. Retrieved 2 June 2011.
  13. Andrews, Kernan (2012). "Galway African Film Festival". Galway Advertiser.
  14. "Africa Day 2018". irishaid.ie. Retrieved 20 June 2024.
  15. "Festival 2019". Galway African Film Festival. 17 May 2019. Retrieved 20 June 2024.