Foyle's Film Festival

The Foyle’s Film Festival is one not to be missed by all those who love film and cinema. Now in its 22nd year the festival will be taking place in Derry City from the 20th until the 28th of November. A huge amount is packed into the festival’s nine-day schedule including film, music, new digital technology, workshops and animation, which aim to excited, enthrall and engage visitors. The festival aims to be a celebration of all these cinema at both the national and international level. The 2008 Foyle’s Film Festival was a huge success and included the Northern Ireland premiere of Brideshead Revisited and the European premiere of Deborah Kampmeier’s film Hounddog.

The program also included a number of documentaries, and short films, which covered a range of topics and ideas. Feature films from across the globe were also shown alongside a full schedule of educational events. The call for entries for this year’s festival opened on June 1st for those wishing to be entered into the prestigious Light in Motion Awards. These awards cover four categories; Best Irish Short, Best International Short, Best Animation, and Best Documentary. All of the city’s cinema venues collaborate together to bring the festival to Derry and showcase some of the finest film from around the world.

For those who hunger after a little more knowledge of the film industry then a visit to one of the workshops or masterclass will provide this insight. Industry professionals who have been involved in the film world for many years run these events. The festival also offers outreach screenings and a number of other special events and competitions throughout its duration. Over the years the festival has built a reputation for excellence with the winners of the short film competition qualifying for the Oscars. But the festival is not all about glitz and glamour with the main emphasis put on engaging with the local communities through film. Some of this year’s workshops include Pitching Skills, and How to Break Into the Film Industry.

For aspiring actors and actresses there is also a Casting Masterclass, to help fine-tune those auditioning skills. Visitors flock to the town during the festival period to be part of all that it has to offer, and it is definitely not to be missed. For those wanting to visit the festival the city of Derry it is located in County Londonderry n Northern Ireland, and is easily reached by car from both Northern and Southern Ireland. It is the second largest city in Northern Ireland and the fourth largest city in the whole of Ireland. The city presides on both sides of the river Foyle, with two bridges connecting the sides together. If you want to visit the City of Derry during the period of the festival then it is recommended to book accommodation and car rental in advance as these can become booked up over this time. Visitors can fly into both Dublin airport and Belfast airport and combine the festival as part of a wider trip through Ireland.