21-05-2025
World premiere for Gerry Adams documentary at Galway Film Fleadh
The documentary Gerry Adams: A Ballymurphy Man will receive its world premiere at the Galway Film Fleadh in July, it has been announced.
The Trisha Ziff-directed film is billed as "the first time Gerry Adams sits down to tell his story from teenage activist to party leader".
It will screen at the Town Hall Theatre in Galway on Saturday 12 July at 4pm.
The festival will open on Tuesday 8 July with Re-Creation from co-directors Jim Sheridan and David Merriman.
In Re-Creation 's fictitious Irish trial, a jury must decide whether the British journalist Ian Bailey, who died in January 2024, is guilty of the murder of the French filmmaker Sophie Toscan du Plantier in west Cork in December 1996.
Ian Bailey was arrested twice by gardaí investigating Ms Toscan du Plantier's death.
However, the Director of Public Prosecutions decided no charge was to be brought against him in relation to her murder.
He was convicted in his absence of the murder by a French court in 2020 and a 25-year sentence was imposed on him.
However, the High Court in Ireland ruled that he should not be extradited to France to face that jail term.
Ian Bailey protested his innocence until his death in Cork in January 2024.
The cast of Re-Creation includes Vicky Krieps, Jim Sheridan, Aidan Gillen, Colm Meaney, and Brendan Conroy.
The Galway Film Fleadh will close on Sunday 13 July with The Life of Chuck, writer-director Mike Flanagan's adaptation of the Stephen King science fiction novella of the same name.
The film stars Tom Hiddleston in the title role alongside Chiwetel Ejiofor, Karen Gillan, and Mark Hamill.
The Life of Chuck opens in Irish cinemas on Friday 22 August.
Galway Film Fleadh Director of Programming Maeve McGrath said: "The Fleadh is opening strong in 2025 with the Irish premiere of Re-Creation, fresh from its world premiere at Tribeca [Film Festival in New York].
"We are delighted to have a big year of Irish films at the Fleadh this year with over 42 Irish films screening, with the Fleadh providing a platform for Irish film year on year.
"Documentary filmmakers play a pivotal role in bringing stories of the world to the screen and in Gerry Adams: A Ballymurphy Man director Trisha Ziff brings Gerry's story to the screen from his youth to the present day.
"We are thrilled to be closing the Fleadh with The Life of Chuck, a stunning film that won the People's Choice Award at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF).
[It's] A film with strong characters that will make the audience reflect on their own relationships. A must-see at the Fleadh in July."
Watch: The trailer for The Life of Chuck
