City of Film
Galway Film Centre and Galway City and County Councils drove the bid process. The final submission on behalf of the consortium of over 50 organisations drawn from across Galway city and county was submitted in March 2014. Some 63 cities worldwide were shortlisted by UNESCO. Bradford in the UK , Galway’s twin city , was the first city to be awarded the title of UNESCO City of Film in 2009.
The title of UNESCO City of Film also includes membership to UNESCO’s Creative Cities Network. In December 2015 three more Cities became UNESCO Cities of Film with Rome (Italy), Bitola (Macedonia) and Santos (Brazil) joining the Network. In November 2017 five more Cities were welcomed to the Network: Bristol (England), Łódź (Poland), Qingdao (China), Terrassa (Spain) and Yamagata City (Japan). Then in 2019 Mumbai (India), Potsdam (Germany), Sarajevo (Bosnia and Herzegovina) Valladolid (Spain) and Wellington (New Zealand) all joined the network.
There are now a total of 18 Cities of Film and 246 Cities in the UNESCO Creative Cities Network. For more info on the network see here
Our team...
Video Archive
Highlights from some past media events.
Lenny Abrahamson Interview 10:00
Galway UNESCO City of Film welcomes Lenny Abrahamson in association with Galway Film Centre, Galway Mayo Institute of Technology and the Huston School of Film & Digital Media.
President Higgins in Galway UNESCO City of Film 1:55
President Michael D. Higgins visits Galway to receive the inaugural Galway UNESCO ‘City of Film/Ceantar Scannán’ Award.
‘What’s your favourite Christmas Film? 5:25
Short film kindly made by GMIT Film & Documentary students with special thanks to Celine Curtin, GMIT and Kenny Gaughan of Little Cinema Galway.
Galway UNESCO City of Film is administered by Galway Film Centre
on behalf of Galway City Council and Galway County Council, in partnership with the Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, the Irish Film Board/Bord Scannán na hÉireann, Údarás na Gaeltachta and TG4.
It is backed by Galway Film Fleadh, PÁLAS, Creative Europe Desk Galway, The Centre for Creative Arts & Media, GMIT, Huston School of Film & Digital Media and the local film and television sector.
This website is updated and maintained partly in thanks to the Galway City Council Marketing Promotion Fund 2019.
