Foyle Film Fest Gets Underway

The 21st Foyle Film Festival gets underway at the weekend, kicking off at the Maiden City's Omniplex with the Northern Ireland premiere of 'Brideshead Revisited'.

Based on Evelyn Waugh's 1945 classic British novel, it remains an evocative and poignant story of forbidden love and the loss of innocence, set in pre-war England when privileged aristocracy fell into decline.

Another premiere to come is 'Somers Town' - shot in startling monochrome on location in the area of north London from which the film takes its name.

It is directed by BAFTA award winning director Shane Meadows and is his first film to be set outside the Midlands.

From comedy to Romeo & Juliet-style tragedy, as the film 'Partition' makes its Irish premiere chronicling the 1947 division of India and Pakistan with the movie set in a time of intense political and social turmoil, as against societal norms and the ever-present dangers of religious intolerance two people meet and fall in love across religious boundaries.

Still on the epic tragedy theme - but a little more tongue in cheek - and 'Hamlet 2' gets its Irish premiere near the end of the week with Dana Marschz (Steve Coogan) as a drama teacher at a Tucson high school.

Outside of a couple of teacher's pets, his class is filled with kids who would rather be anywhere except in school.

To inspire the students, Dana decides to cast them in a play of his own devising: 'Hamlet 2', the musical sequel to Shakespeare's masterpiece in a movie which has been described as sensational by none other than Rolling Stone magazine, as "Coogan's breakthrough star performance is said to hold it all together".

Also over this first weekend the film festival's workshops begin, with, for example, on Saturday, 'An audience with Seamus McGarvey'

An Armagh native, McGarvey is one of the most talented cinematographers working in the film industry today. His Oscar and BAFTA-nominations this year for his stunning use of light in the film, 'Atonement', have gained him the recognition he deserves for an impressive body of work ranging from documentaries filmed around the world to some 100 music videos and over 30 feature films.

Much, much more to see and do, so check out: www.foylefilmfestival.org

(BMcC)