Cónaitheacht Chlár Malartaithe Beochana Gaeilge/ Māori 2025 idir Cathair Scannán na Gaillimhe (Ceantar Scannán) & Wellington City of Film – taithí a fháil ar ábhar beochana a chur le chéile i dteanga dhúchais eile
Galway City of Film (Ceantar Scannán) & Wellington City of Film Gaeilge/ Māori Animation Exchange Residency 2025 – experiencing animation content creation for a different first language.
Galway City of Film, managed by Ardán, and supported by Galway City Council, hosted a free screening for a European Night of Film at the Pálás Cinema on 11th May 2023 at 7pm, to celebrate EU50.
We were joined for a pre-screening reception in the Pálás Bar by the Deputy Mayor of Galway, Councillor Mike Hubbard, and the Polish Consul Patrick O’Sullivan.
The Double Life of Veronique (1991), directed by Krysztof Kieslowski is two parallel stories about two identical women; one living in Poland, the other living in France. In the story, the two women don’t know each other, but their lives are nevertheless profoundly connected. (IMDb).
The film garnered a Golden Globe nomination as well as several wins at Cannes Film Festival.
Galway City of Film (Ceantar Scannán) is a UNESCO designation held jointly by Galway City Council and Galway County Council since 2014, and managed on their behalf by Ardán.
Ardán, and Galway City of Film, are delighted to announce that applications are now open for the Short Documentary Bursary 2023, the documentary funding scheme for filmmakers in Galway City and County.
We are looking for entry-level filmmakers to apply to this bursary to help them make one of their first steps in their filmmaking career. Successful applicants will be given a bursary of €3,000 to help them make a short documentary of 5-15 mins.
Previous bursary recipients have gone on to have their films screened at the Galway Film Fleadh, as well as other national and international film festivals.
The selected filmmakers will be mentored by Galway-based documentary filmmaker Donal Haughey of Hawkeye Films. Donal has produced and/or directed over thirty documentaries both for his own company, Hawkeye Films and as a freelancer. His projects have been involved in both national and international stories, consisting of feature-length, one-hour, half-hour and short form docs. For twenty years Donal was the documentary tutor on GMIT’s (now ATU’s) Film & Documentary course – honours, Level 8. Presently Donal has two projects in research, one that looks at the relationship between memory and place and another project on street games.
Ardán will be hosting an Information Day for applicants on Thursday June 7th at 2.00pm in the Green Room at CCAM, ATU, Wellpark Road. H91 WP9K. Register for the information day.
Shortlisted applicants will be called for interview. The proposed date for interviews is Wednesday 28th June (this date is subject to change.) Please email admin@ardan.ie with any queries!
Supported by Galway City Council, Galway County Council, and the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media.
Galway City of Film is proud to announce our participation the Busan International Kid & Youth Film Festival Poster Competition.
From its launch in 2006, Busan International Kids & Youth Film Festival celebrated its 14th year in 2019. As the only international kids film festival in Korea, it provides a ground for visual arts education. The festival hosts events such as Film Workshop and Seminars for children, Film and Fun, Poster Contest & Exhibition and Kids’ Cine-Playground, attracting huge attention of filmmakers from all over the world while achieving recognition as a Kids & Youth centered film festival.
You can find more information about BIKY here.
The Poster Competition
Every year, BIKY has made its beautiful official poster by collecting drawings from children with their amazing imagination and wit. It will be remade into a poster in the form of ‘collage’, after artists’ design works with the selected drawings.
To enter:
Each city will select one drawing through their own entry process and then send the selected drawing to BIKY. All drawings sent from cities of film will be included in the official poster for BIKY’s 2020 edition and will be exhibited during the BIKY period.
BIKY will select one winner from the 12 cities to give a special chance. We will invite the winner to BIKY to participate in BIKY events. If they are 10-12 years old, BIKY will select them as a Jury Member. For the winner’s visit in Busan, we will provide benefits for winner as follows;
Please click here to download the Application Form and get started!
For any further details, please contact admin@galwayfilmcentre.ie or call (091) 770748.
A special industry event held last night in Galway celebrated 2 key anniversaries in Film in the city. In 2014 Galway became the fifth city in the world to achieve the status of UNESCO City of Film, in recognition of the rich history and vibrant culture of filmmaking that continues in the city and county to this day. Galway City of Film is now celebrating its 5th anniversary of that recognition, and is taking a wonderful opportunity to look back at what has been achieved so far.
City of Film highlights include organising camps for young filmmakers and animators, hosting the One Minute Film Festival and 48 Hour Challenge, supporting short film funding schemes through Galway Film Centre such as Science on Screen and the GFC/RTÉ Short Film Scheme, local initiatives supporting industry including the Fís TV Summit and the WRAP Fund, as well as screenings, student exchanges, research and collaboration across the now 18 Cities of Film in the UNESCO Creative Cities Network.
With the confluence of these two events comes a unique opportunity to present our Galway UNESCO ‘City of Film/Ceantar Scannán’ Award to local film producer Lelia Doolan. An honour that has only been presented to one other recipient, Uachtaráin Michael D Higgins. It is difficult to think of anyone that has contributed more to the local and national film industry than Lelia Doolan and Galway City of Film wish to honor her and her legacy of incredible work by presenting this award to her as part of our celebrations.
Launched in 2014 by Uachtaráin Michael D. Higgins, Galway City of Film has offered valuable supports and resources to the filmmaking community in the city over the last five years that otherwise would not have been possible.
The award presentation was followed by a screening of Cumar – A Galway Rhapsody, a feature film directed by Aodh Ó Coileáin and produced by Paddy Hayes celebrating Galway artists including Rita Ann Higgins, Tommy Tiernan and Noeline Kavanagh.
Heads of State, Government leaders, UN High Level Representatives and civil society met in September 2015, at the 70th Session of the United Nations General Assembly, and adopted the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). These represent a universal, ambitious, sustainable development agenda, an agenda “of the people, by the people and for the people,” crafted with UNESCO’s active involvement.
Bradford became the first UNESCO City of Film in 2009 and, along with its twin city Galway, is one of only five cities globally to share this unique accolade. The summit will stage a series of seminars, events, discussions and screenings to discuss film and TV production, education initiatives and to celebrate what Bradford has achieved over the past five years.
Amongst those traveling include Mayor of Galway, Cllr. Donal Lyons, Galway Chief Executive, Brendan McGrath and Galway County Cathaoirleach Cllr. Mary Hoade.
Mayor Lyons commented:
“I’m delighted that the UNESCO designation has re-invigorated our twinning with Bradford and the Film Summit will present a great opportunity for us to see how being part of the Creative Cities Network has transformed Bradford and how the growth of film activity in Yorkshire has helped drive social and economic change. We will see first hand what they have done and learn what Galway can do to unlock the potential of us now being part of the UNESCO network.“
Galway’s mobile cinema, the Cinemobile is leading the vanguard to Bradford where it will be the centre-piece of activities for the three-day summit. Cinemobile’s Manager Noreen Collins adds “The Cinemobile will be parked in the very heart of Bradford in Centenary Square right outside City Hall where we will be screening the best of contemporary Irish film including Good Vibrations, Dreaming The Quiet Man and the first showing in an Irish venue of Cartoon Saloon’s Oscar nominated The Song Of The Sea. The Cinemobile trip is supported by Galway City Council and Culture Ireland.
Also traveling will be Galway Film Centre Manager Declan Gibbons:
“This will be the first opportunity for us to meet and welcome our new international colleagues to the network, to spend time with the newly designated UNESCO film cities of Busan and Sofia as well as representatives from the cities of Shenzhen (China), Yamagata (Japan), York and Dundee. I am delighted that there is such a strong delegation traveling from Galway, especially senior officials from both local authorities. It shows their ongoing commitment to the UNESCO designation and understanding of the potential. The City of Film status has made a huge impact in Bradford and we can learn from that.”
The Bradford International Film Summit will also host the UK’s leading figures in film and television with support from BAFTA, the British Film Institute (BFI), the British Film Commission (BFC), BBC, Al Jazeera English, Screen Yorkshire, Film4, Yorkshire Film Archive and many independent production companies and film and TV specialists.
For full details and schedule of the Bradford Film Summit see: http://bradford-city-of-film.com/summit/
Galway Film Centre in association with Galway City and County Councils drove the bid process which started two years ago. The final bid submission on behalf of the consortium of over 50 organisations drawn from across Galway city and county was submitted in March 2014. Following a fiercely competitive evaluation process, sixty three cities worldwide were shortlisted by UNESCO to fifty cities with twenty making the final selection, one of which was Galway, which won the highly prestigious and permanent title of UNESCO City of Film.
Galway, now formally joins the UNESCO’s Creative Cities Network as a designated UNESCO City of Film. This permanent status and designation gives Galway immediate access to a global platform, joining over sixty cities worldwide including major metropolitan and cultural centres such as Sydney, Seoul, Shanghai, Montreal, Buenos Aires, Berlin and Edinburgh. Galway’s twin city of Bradford in the UK was the first city to be awarded the title of UNESCO City of Film in 2009.
The UNESCO Creative cities network seeks to develop international cooperation amongst cities that have identified creativity as a strategic factor for sustainable development. Galway city and county already boast an impressive, healthy and growing film and TV industry, worth in the region of €72m to the local economy and employing over 600 people full time. Such international recognition, propels Galway into an impressive worldwide network, opening new opportunities in the world of film and TV. UNESCO city of film presents Galway with hugely positive economic, creative and artistic opportunities, sharing in a vast international resource while fostering worldwide cooperation for sustainable urban development.
Speaking in response to the announcement, Mayor of Galway, Cllr. Donal Lyons, said:
“I am absolutely thrilled on behalf of the city of Galway and would like to thank and congratulate everyone who has been involved in this successful bid. This is fantastic news for the film, TV, artistic and cultural community, and of course the city and region as a whole. It reflects so positively on Galways strong heritage of film and acknowledges our current level of creative activity, pointing to a bright future for the production, promotion and appreciation of film in Galway and the West.”
The Mayor went on to note:
“The designation of Galway as a UNESCO City Of Film will, of course, add to and enhance our international status as a creative city and will be enormously beneficial to our bid to be named European Capital of Culture 2020. Galway is now recognised internationally for our quality of artistic work and engagement, which is testament to all those working in this creative vibrant and lucrative film and TV sector.”
Cathaoirleach of Galway County Council, Cllr Mary Hoade, joined the Galway City Mayor by saying:
“This designation shows how a determined group of people, supported by statutory and other bodies, can come together and show the world what a fabulous, creative and resourceful place Galway is. I would like to thank UNESCO and also ensure our active participation in the creative cities network and reiterate our commitment to the further development and support of the film and audio visual sector in Galway.”
Galway UNESCO City of Film announcement comes on the back of a hugely successful week for the Galway Film Centre which held its annual Film and TV seminar on Thursday and Friday. This year’s seminar hosted heavy hitters from the world of Film and TV including Beau Willimon creator and show runner of the hugely successful Netflix drama series House of Cards. Gub Neal former head of Channel 4 drama and producer of the hit series The Fall. Claire Jennings BAFTA winning producer of Coraline and The Curse of the Were Rabbitt amongst many others leading names.
A visibly delighted Declan Gibbons, manager of Galway Film Centre, said:
“This is hugely significant for Galway to be honoured and awarded the UNESCO City of Film status and it has already opened doors for us. I travel to the Houses of Parliament in London on Tuesday morning (2nd December) to meet the Director General of the BBC, the Head of Sky Arts, the CEO of the BFI as well as Michael Palin and Terry Gilliam as part of a UNESCO event organised by Bradford City of Film. If we hadn’t gotten the designation I would not be going. This will open so many opportunities for Galway that it is actually quite overwhelming.”
The process involved a formal application which was submitted in March 2014 in a bid led by Galway City Council and Galway County Council and facilitated by Galway Film Centre. The application went through a lengthy evaluation process involving international experts, research centres, universities and international associations specialising in urban development, culture and creative industries.
Over 50 organisations were involved in the Galway bid which was co-ordinated primarily by Declan Gibbons, Galway Film Centre, Lelia Doolan, Galway Picture Palace and Dr Jenny Dagg and The Creative Edge Paroject at The Whitaker Institute, NUI, Galway. Other key players involved were Galway County Council Arts Office, Galway City Council Arts Office, Bord Scannán na hÉireann / The Irish Film Board, Galway Film Fleadh, GMIT, Údarás na Gaeltachta, Abú Media, Creative Europe Desk Galway, Cinemobile, Huston School of Film & Digital Media as well as many local producers and production companies.
Galway’s twin city of Bradford in the UK was the first city to be awarded UNESCO City of Film and Galway is only the second Irish city to be recognised by UNESCO. Dublin won UNESCO City of Literature in 2009.
Galway now celebrates this historic achievement and looks forward to the next chapter as a world centre of excellence and creativity.
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