Southern Comfort

Brian O'Connell comes away impressed from another great Cork Film Festival, this one all the more of an achievement given straitened financial resources.

This year's 48th Cork International Film Festival was according to the organisers one of the most successful and well-attended festivals in recent years. Also, from an Irish point of view, it is the first time in many years that Irish features have opened (Song For a Raggy Boy) and closed (Mystics) the festival. In between, over thirty shorts programmes, features, documentaries, interviews, forums and workshops were squeezed into eight days of comprehensive programming. It is a testament to festival director Mick Hannigan, and his dedicated team, that two years after the withdrawal of Murphy's as the main festival sponsor, the festival programme appears to have suffered little. Whereas other areas such as large scale media advertising, extensive administrative resources and a well subsidised festival club may not have been up to the standard of previous years, the programme is the strength here, and owes its success to the reputation of the festival internationally and the generous awards offered by main short film sponsors – Jameson.

On opening night the Opera House had an unmistakeably celebratory air, fuelled by fine wine sponsors Woodford and Bourne's generous offerings. A large local audience turned out in support of Aisling Walsh's Song for a Raggy Boy, shot in Ballyvourney last summer and based on Patrick Galvin's largely autobiographical memoir. In their opening addresses Festival delegates reminded the audience that 2005 represented the 50th anniversary of the Film Festival, in a year when Cork assumes the mantle of European City of Culture, and reiterated the need for additional funding to ensure the continued success of one of Europe's leading festivals.

The full article is printed in Film Ireland 95