Richard Harris International Film Festival celebrates its 7th year

Pictured at the launch of the Richard Harris International Film Festival which was held in the George Hotel on Friday, October 4. Picture: Kate Devaney.

Richard Harris International Film Festival celebrates its 7th year

The Richard Harris International Film Festival is returning to Limerick this October for its seventh year after launching its biggest and most expansive program yet on Friday the 4th of October in the George Boutique Hotel.

The Richard Harris International Film Festival is one of the fastest-growing film festivals in Europe. The festival takes place from the 22nd to the 28th of October this year in multiple locations across Limerick city and county.

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According to festival director Zeb Moore: “From humble beginnings in 2013, when we screened 10 films to screening 150 films last year, the festival continues to grow. We are the only festival to have a live script read of a feature in development. Our awards night will be the only formal black-tie awards night for the Irish film industry to take place this year.” The red-carpet awards night and the black-tie gala party take place in the Millenium Theatre, LIT on the 27th of October.

The festival will have a strong selection of World, European and Irish Premieres. As always the Richard Harris retrospective will feature prominently, with a screening of Trojan Eddie’ with Stephen Rea – this year’s selection.

Among many highlights in this year’s festival is the world premiere of Brian Reddin’s documentary on Richard Harris, followed by a Q&A with the director and documentary participants. The documentary features Jim Sheridan, Tom Berenger, Robert Duvall among many others. There will also be a screening of Terry McMahon’s Prizefighter – a searing documentary on the life of Middleweight boxing contender ‘Spike’ O’Sullivan, followed by Q&A with the director and subject. Other premieres will be announced closer to the time of the event. As always, stars from the big screen are expected to descend on Limerick

Pictured at the launch of the Richard Harris International Film Festival which was held in the George Hotel on Friday, October 4. Picture: Kate Devaney.

2019, sees the launch of IMET (Interactive Media Entertainment Technology) Summit (running 22nd -23rd of October) by Emerald Giant Productions – the people behind the Harris festival. IMET is a new stand-alone media technology summit, that will precede the Harris festival, and will explore disruption in media and entertainment technology. This year, the theme will be ‘The Post-Truth World’ and will feature a screening of the documentary “Belling-Cat: Truth in a post-Truth world”.

IMET will also feature an exciting and innovative VR/AR experience, in association with a number of Ireland’s leading VR content providers and creators, including VR recreations of the Apollo 11 Lunar landing and WWII air-raids from Immersive VR Education and Simmotion. Festival chair Rob Gill says “iMET is part of our efforts to remain innovative and offer visitors to the city – both industry and consumers – another exciting experience, as we work to position Limerick as a tech hub and premier destination for investment and business tourism”

Another highlight is the screening of Brownbag’s documentary on the making of the charming ‘Angela’s Christmas’ followed by a Q&A with Malachy McCourt and director Damien O’Connor on Monday the 22nd of October, which will kick off the week of cinematic and tech events. This will give the audience great insight into the creative process behind the exciting art-form that is animation.

The festival wouldn’t be the same without its famous afterparties. The modern Speak-easy cocktail bar 101 is the festival after-party hub and will offer a great opportunity for festival-goers and visitors to network or just unwind and meet stars from the silver screen.

Richard Harris Film Festival 22-28th October 2019; various locations Limerick City

For more information on the Richard Harris Film Festival, click here.

For more stories on Local festivals in Limerick click here.

Pictures: Kate Devaney/ilovelimerick