A total of 2,000 people are expected to view at least one of the 124 films being shown at this week's Kerry Film Festival.
The festival was opened last night by the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism, Mr O'Donoghue. About 20 of the films were made in Kerry dealing with a range of subjects from St Brendan the Navigator to hurling in north Kerry.
"There's a huge interest in film in the county. The festival is also attracting interest from Japan, Iran, Germany, and especially the USA where we have a growing following as a small but important festival," said Mr Maurice Galway, director of the Samhlaíocht Film Festival. Last year 2,009 people attended, double the number of previous years.
The festival will honour the late Tadgh Ó Coileáin, the west Kerry film-maker who died earlier this year, with a night of his films at the Great Blasket Centre.
Tibet: Cry of the Snow Lion, which took ten years to make, will be screened in Dingle tonight. Two John Boorman classics, Point Blank and Hope and Glory are being shown at the Kerry Omniplex, in Tralee. Charlie is my Darling, a film of the Rolling Stones 1965 Irish tour, closes the festival on Sunday. It has never been shown in Ireland before.
