Kerry Film Festival Active Retired Screenings 2010

It's Oscar season and to celebrate Kerry Film Festival and Siamsa Tire have partnered to bring some fabulous films from the distant past and the not so distant past to a big screen in Tralee. The screenings will take place in Siamsa Tire and are for active-retired groups and all retired individuals.

"We have active retired screenings as part of the Kerry Film Festival," said Jason O' Mahony, Festival Director, "and we thought it would be a wonderful idea to do some additional screenings during the winter months. Siamsa Tire is a wonderful venue, the screen and sound system are top class, and the staff there are always so accommodating, so thankfully we're able to programme a whole series of films for active retired groups and retired individuals. We also thought it would be a great idea to screen three John Huston films because of his Irish connections."

The first film to screen is Huston's debut, THE MALTESE FALCON, screening on Wednesday, February 3rd, one of the most assured debuts of all time and the undoubted Hamlet of Noir. Starring Humphrey Bogart as a detective who takes on a case that involves him with eccentric criminals, a gorgeous liar, and a quest for a priceless statuette, the film also stars Mary Astor and Peter Lorre. It was nominated for three Oscars and is consistently included in lists as one of the best movies of all time.

Next up is THE MISFITS, with Clark Gable and Marylyn Monroe, giving what many believe to be her strongest performance of all time. The film, which will screen on Wednesday, March 3rd, saw Huston nominated for Outstanding Directorial Achievement by the Directors' Guild of America. It's a little seen movie nowadays but has megawatt star power and a brilliant script by Arthur Miller and its critical reputation has only improved over time. It was the last film made by Hollywood icons Gable and Monroe.

The third and final film in the series, screening on Wednesday, April 7th, is crowd-pleasing musical, ANNIE, which was also nominated for two Oscars. Starring Albert Finney and Aileen Quinn as Annie, the film is an all singing look at the life of orphan Annie in 1930's America, proving the breadth of Huston's directorial talents which saw him succeed in every genre of film imaginable from Noir to Musicals.

"All films cost just 2euro to anyone over the age of 65 and Kerry Film Festival will serve teas and coffees before the film to all attendees," added Jason. "The active retired screenings are a nice social occasion, as well as giving attendees the opportunity to see some fantastic films on the big screen!"

All films will screen in Siamsa Tire at 2:00 pm. For more information please call Kerry Film Festival on 066 712 9934 or log onto www.kerryfilmfestival.com

Easter Parade Call for Interest - Funding Available for Community Groups

The Mortal Orchestra at the 2009 Easter Arts Festival

The Samhlaiocht Easter Arts Festival, which is this year celebrating 18 years of bringing the Arts to the streets of Tralee, has issued a call for entries for its upcoming Easter Arts Festival Parade.

The Samhlaiocht Easter Arts parade is always a wonderfully lively and colourful event featuring over twenty groups from all over the county as well as samba bands, other professional street artists and on one memorable occasion a host of bikini clad Brazilians!

"The parade is always one of our most vibrant events," said Jason O' Mahony, Director of Samhlaiocht. "The streets of Tralee come alive, full of colourful characters, colourful costumes and with a real festival atmosphere. You need only watch the parade to realise the spirit of the Arts is very much alive in Kerry."

This year the theme of the Samhlaiocht Easter Arts Festival is 'Legends' and the Festival will feature all aspects of the Arts from music, tradition, craft, culture, food and film to literature, with a special emphasis on street theatre and children arts.

The Parade will take place on Sunday, April 4th at approximately 7.30pm and groups that are interested are encouraged to get in touch with Samhlaiocht and fill out an application form.

"We've had a fantastically high calibre of community groups taking part in previous years," added Jason, "and the interest has been huge even at this early stage, so I'd really encourage interested groups to get in touch as quickly as possible. We'll finish the parade this year with a spectacular fire-work display and I bet that all the communities that take part will set off fire-works in their own right!"

There two types of funding available including funding for the Kerry Group Five Community Project. Five groups will be selected from among the applicants. Each group will receive funding of 1000 euro to provide artists fees, prop building, costumes and transport.

Funding is also available for Participant Groups. All kinds of groups from play schools to active retired groups are welcome to apply. The groups will each receive funding to assist towards expenses incurred.

"We hope that this can be the biggest year ever," added Jason. "We're delighted that Kerry Group which has supported Samhlaiocht since its inception is on board. Quite literally without their ongoing support the festival would cease to exist. The feedback from the participating groups is always wonderful and the financial support of Kerry Group makes it possible."

Application forms for both streams of funding are available online at www.samhlaiocht.com Forms are also available for the Samhlaiocht offices in the Old Presbytery on Lower Castle Street in the Heart of Tralee. For More Information please contact Trish Thompson of Samhlaiocht on 066 712 9934, by email on trish@samhlaiocht.com , or by simply calling into the office.