WATERFORD FILM FESTIVAL 2009 ANNOUNCE PROGRAMME LINE-UP

The Waterford Film Festival is pleased to announce this year’s programme line up for the annual event taking placeFriday 6th-Sunday 8th November in the Greyfrairs Art Gallery Waterford. Even though our funding were reduced due to the current economic climate and we had to scale down the festival, we still received hundreds of submissions worldwide and we have selected ahugely varied programwhich we trust will both entertain and stimulate all who attend as well as providing much needed exposure for filmmakers local, national and international. The festival is now in its third year and this year we will be screening eight feature films and documentaries and thirty short films from filmmakers from around the world.

Opening the festival on Friday the 6th of November is an independent film by Dublin filmmaker Joseph Delond. The film is called “Bitterness” and it is Delond’s debut feature film. It is a hilarious story about a man by the name of Francis who has been jilted at the altar and has become a very bitter man. His life, as he sees it, is in tatters because the world stops him from being happy. Ironically everyone he knows seems to be happy.

British Feature Fiction Film “Billy & Lilly Go to New York “will have their World Première at the festival. The film is made by critically acclaimed maverick director Bill Maloney. The film is shot in a realistic documentary style but it is a spoof. Bill playing himself (a cockney –speaking Irishman) goes to New York to represent his nominated feature film at a NY Film Festival but he decides to bypass the festival glitz in favour of shooting a documentary about the homeless people of NY. For their efforts Billy and Lilly are killed on the streets of Manhattan.

Another British film that will screen at the festival is Duane Hopkins award winning film “Better things”. Better things is a multi narrative drama depicting everyday life in a small town in England. Feature Documentaries that will screen at the festival is “Clown around Lesotho! The film was made by Irish filmmaker Mike Casey and it is about a troupe of Irish clowns travel to Lesotho, one the poorest countries in the world. Debut Feature Documentary filmmakers Cian O'Laoi and Oliver Knowles film “Pipe Down” which documents Shell oil’s plans of laying down gas pipes off the Mayo Coast threatening to wreck the environment and the life’s of farmers and fishermen will screen on the last day of the festival.

Other Feature Documentaries include the award winning film “The English Surgeon” which was directed by Geoffrey Smith and was shot in a Ukrainian hospital full of desperate patients and makeshift equipment. The films follows neurosurgeon Henry Marsh as he wrestles with the dilemmas of the doctor-patient relationship. Also screening at the festival is Hayley Westenra on tour in Northern Ireland. Kate Garbutt , interviews Haley who shows what it is like being on tour and gives an insight to her life.

Closing this year festival is a low budget independent American/Irish production called Manband. Shot on location in Los Angeles California by debut director Dermott Petty. Manband tells the story of the Boy Band from hell .It is a comedy film about two music promoters hoping to find the next big thing in pop music end up creating a boyband with middle aged men.

There are four short programmes at this year’s festival which will showcase films from professionals to first time filmmakers. Each of these films has a different background. Some of them have screened internationally and have won awards while others will be screened for the very first time here at the Waterford Film Festival.

This year we introduced a short screen play competition and we received over one hundred submissions and we narrowed that down to twenty finalists. The overall winner will be announced on the last day of the festival.

The festival will give awards in the following categories:

1st and 2nd place certificates will be awarded in each category and a cash prize of €600 will be awarded for 1st place in the short film and the short screenplay category.