Go on location for Clare Island Film Festival

THE Clare Island Film Festival is taking place on Saturday and Sunday, August 19 and 20.

It will feature a curated programme of short and feature films along with live music performers, craic and discussions across the weekend.

The opening feature film will be The Cry of Granuaile (2022) on Saturday evening, followed by a Q&A with award-winning Irish director Dónal Foreman.

Filmed on location on Clare Island, this genre-defying blend of psychodrama and fantasy follows a grieving American filmmaker and her Irish assistant on a tour of the west of Ireland as they research a film about Granuaile.

The two women develop an uneasy intimacy as they journey towards Clare Island, where boundaries begin to blur between past and present, myth and history, dream and reality.

Sunday evening's feature film was also filmed locally - the acclaimed My Sailor My Love (2023), filmed on Achill Island.

It tells the story of Howard (James Cosmo), a retired sailor and widower, who lives in a house by the sea. His daughter Grace (Catherine Walker) hires a caretaker for her father, Annie (Bríd Brennan).

Recluse and stubborn, Howard rejects Annie's company, but eventually opens his heart and gives his final love a chance.

The short film and documentary programme features Titim Isteach, Flourshing Wave, Good Fence? and Lamb.

All are welcome and entry is by donation at the door.

Special ferries will be running from Cloughmore Pier in Achill and Roonagh Pier, Louisburgh, for day and overnight trips to the festival.

You can view the full programme on the Clare Island Film Festival Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/ClareIslandFilmFestival