The curtain drops on another fantastic Kerry Film Festival

The cast and crew of Tradition 

The Man Who Wanted to Fly on Sunday 21st October brought to an end five days of quality film at the 19th Kerry Film Festival. From the premiere of Killarney shot Tradition on Wednesday night right through the five days of the festival the standard of short and feature films on show was extremely high. Add in the T.A.L.K Industry event on the Saturday, Deirdre O'Kane being presented with the prestigious Maureen O'Hara Award and the Gala Awards Night later that evening and you have paramount to a festival that despite being in it's 19th year is only going from strength to strength.
From Wednesday morning with a selection of compelling and high quality short film it was quite clear that this was no ordinary festival and audiences and visitors to Killarney over the five days were not going to be disappointed. This view was strengthened by the screening  on Thursday of Padraig Conaty's No Party for Billy Burns starring the exceptional Kevin McGahern in the title role and the Irish premiere of the brilliant Mad Hannans. A Q&A held by Artistic Director Maeve McGrath with Jerry Hannan only added to the experience for the audience and the 19th Kerry Film Festival was off the strongest possible start!

Jerry Hannan's Q&A before the Irish premiere of the Mad Hannans

Student and Irish shorts got proceedings underway on day three which also saw a screening of Hugh O'Connor's wonderful directorial debut Metal Heart (with director in attendance) as well as the exceptional When All is Ruin Once Again with another quality packed day of programming at Killarney Cinema (as well as the serene St Mary's Church) coming to an end with the showing of Leslie Ann Coles superb Melody Makers documentary.

Winner of this years Maureen O'Hara Award, Deirdre O'Kane

Saturday saw more quality shorts in series that included International and KFF Showcase with the Childrens Through the Lens segment(which included Vincent Lambes Detainment) highlighting the riches that KFF2018 had in abundance.
A Free Industry event T.A.L.K was also held in the picturesque Killarney House on Saturday afternoon lots of interesting film related topics up for discussion with a very knowledgeable panel including Hugh O'Connor, Leslie Anne Coles and Vincent Lambe.
That evening saw the European premiere of Freddie Fox's magnificent short film Hero followed by the Irish premiere of Jim Cummings Sundance winner Thunder Road.
Saturday night concluded with the Awards Night in the Killarney Plaza with the following films victorious on the night:

International Short - Seven
Documentary - The Reek
Animation - Yǔnshí
Student – Day of Reckoning
Score - The Fruitful
Irish Narrative - Detainment
Kerry Short - Take Me Swimming
Feature - Thunder Road & When All Is Ruin Once Again

 Barry Keoghan finally gets to meet his favourite film blogger at this years Kerry Film Festival!

The final day of the festival saw another selection of quality shorts with the focus on local film and also saw the premiere of Tralee film maker Bertie Brosnans' CON with the festival coming to a close with the screening The Man Who Wanted to Fly at Cinema Killarney.
Overall, judging by the crowds, atmosphere and buzz generated by this award winning film festival now in it's 19th year a very successful weekend was had by all and credit must go in no small part to Artistic Director Maeve McGrath and her crew for another fantastic festival!
Roll on 2019 and the 20th year of this outstanding celebration of film!