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Telegraph
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
The offbeat Irish town that's become a magnet for the A-list
Here's a setting fit for a blockbuster. An Irish paint-box coloured town, teetering on the edge of West Cork 's dramatic coastline, where Fastnet Lighthouse winks out in Roaringwater Bay, and all around are huge skies, hazy horizons and, beyond, the wild Atlantic – nothing between here and New York. This is the tiny medieval town of Schull, where there may not be a cinema, but there is a film festival. Green-lit – as we say in the biz – in 2009, the Fastnet Film Festival now sees more than 533 short films from 47 different countries compete each year for a share in the generous prize fund of €45,000 (£38,000). All are welcome, and there can be few lovelier places to blow out the cobwebs and celebrate creative collaboration on a truly local scale. Flying from Stansted to Cork two weeks ago for the 2025 iteration, I found myself sitting next to Grace and Tim, a couple travelling towards a romantic weekend in Ireland. They'd chosen the perfect out-of-season destination, a place with spring sunshine, silk-soft air, heart-stopping vistas and that impossibly green patchwork of landscapes. What they hadn't bargained for, however, was the added bonus of a quirky five-day film festival, during which almost every butcher, baker, candlestick maker – well, church hall, restaurant, school, pub, bar and hotel ballroom, at least – shows short films of between 10 and 20 minutes. Grace and Tim were in for a treat. Never one to miss an opening-night party, I spent my first evening raising a glass to the week ahead at Schull's free event, held in the town's hilltop convent; then, the following morning, I hightailed it along the quayside for a ferry crossing to the Irish-speaking Cape Clear Island. In these warm southerly waters, whales, dolphins and leatherback turtles all make regular appearances, and the iconic Fastnet Rock Lighthouse – of Shipping Forecast fame – rears up amongst the megalithic standing stones. It was not for these natural delights that I'd come, however, but rather for the festival's 'Irish Language Day' event. A 40-minute walk up lanes banked with wild flowers brought me to the showing of haunting Gothic horror film Fréwaka, in a big hall on the hilltop; a screening made all the more powerful by the 5,000-year-old religious history of Ireland's earliest Christian saints, right here on Cape Clear Island. The trail back down to the harbour included stops at various venues showing Irish-language short films with subtitles, as well as a bowl of superlative leek and potato soup at Cotters Bar, and a tasting at Cape Clear Gin Distillery, where the spirit was as delicious as the honeysuckle and sea-tinged air I drank in deeply as I trotted back to the ferry, half convinced I was now fluent in Irish. If there is one sound more lyrical than that of spoken Irish, however, it's the melody of Irish fiddles. In the gathering dusk, I headed to Schull's Holy Trinity Church to watch my first of the festival's offerings, 'From a Forest to a Fiddle', a documentary on legendary luthier Jim McKillop. Exquisite in its intricate detail, the film spanned a six-month period as he crafted a traditional instrument, until it produced notes as pitch-perfect as the accompanying live performance from Zoe Conway and John McIntyre. If ever there was a soul-stirring show to tug on the heart strings, this was it. In just two days I caught 23 of the 35 short films: a powerful and mesmerising mix of stories covering everything from Ireland's first women's national football team to an Italian tale of two playful boys throwing stones from an overpass and the subsequent tragedy that overwhelmed them. Each work was testament to the fact that big subjects – salt, soil, the morning-after pill – distilled into this less-is-more format so often make for truly epic movies. But it wasn't just the spectacular surrounds and stellar stories which made it such a special week – it was the community of cheery volunteers, the clutch of screen-acting and film-making masterclasses which I dipped into between screenings, its showcase for unknown film-makers, and – of course – its sprinkling of stardust. Saoirse Ronan, Paul Mescal and Steve Coogan are amongst the festival's patrons, while the likes of Barry Keoghan (his electrifying performance in Calm with Horses a reminder of his rise from indie beginnings to global acclaim), Rebecca Miller (there with a documentary about her father, Arthur) and Ronan Day-Lewis (son of Daniel, who came to chat about his feature debut) were also in town, as were Derry Girls ' Nicola Coughlan and Domhnall Gleeson. The week culminated in the fabulous Festival Awards (free entry, all welcome), after which we rolled happily down to the cosy high-street Townhouse – my adopted local. And then, as only the luck of the Irish could have it – while I chomped down seafood chowder and pint of Murphys – who should appear but my flight companions, Grace and Tim. They were, just as I'd predicted, having a whale of a time, and already enthusing about returning the following year. And who could blame them? Combine beautiful landscapes, Irish hospitality, famous faces and a spot of creative magic, and good craic will always follow. Essentials
BBC News
02-05-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Liverpool Sound City 2025: Line-up, start times, venue details
Liverpool Sound City is back for its annual festival celebrating independent music and artists and other creatives will be showcasing their work at various independent venues across the city centre throughout the include The Royston Club, Dylan John Thomas, and event has been a staple of the city's music scene since its founding in 2008. What time does it start? On Friday, Sound City's yearly conference will see a schedule of panels, in-conversations, Q&As, workshops and opening address will be delivered by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) at 09:30 BST, at the FACT media arts will continue throughout the day and conclude with a closing address at 17:00 BSTOn Saturday and Sunday, doors are set to open at 12:00 BST. What venues are taking part? This year, artists will be performing across eight venues in Liverpool city centre. The venues will feature a total of more than 50 Central HallArts Club (Loft)Arts Club (Theatre)Kazimier StockroomEBGB'sSpanish CaravanThe JacarandaThe Shipping Forecast Who will be performing? On Saturday, those performing include The Royston Club, Nieve Ella, Hyphen, MT Jones, Panic Shack, Keo, Alfie Erskine, Hannah Weedall, and Sunday line up will see artists such as Dylan John Thomas, The Heavy North, Lavender, The Clause, The Cheap Thrills, Mandrake Handshake, Emily Harte, Tian Qiyi, and for the festival can be purchased through See Tickets. Listen to the best of BBC Radio Merseyside on Sounds and follow BBC Merseyside on Facebook, X, and Instagram. You can also send story ideas via Whatsapp to 0808 100 2230.
Yahoo
29-01-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Reeves flashes an awkward smile with the air of Comical Ali
Rachel had graduated from accounts to a massive warehouse full of piping on the edge of the Cotswolds. It looked like the sort of place where a particularly creative Midsomer Murder might happen. No such high campery from the Playmobil Chancellor alas. There are whole acres of forest that remain undisturbed since the Norman Conquest which are less deserving of the epithet 'wooden' than the Chancellor of the Exchequer. One can almost imagine Sir Keir getting in touch with his oft-mentioned toolmaking ancestry and carving, like Geppetto, a little wooden apparatchik all of his own. As such, she isn't necessarily the first person you'd put forward for a big morale-boosting speech on growth. Yet here we were, hoping that a beloved British character actor would be crushed by a wheel of cheese or bashed with a croquet mallet in the background by way of light relief. Part of the Chancellor's problem is that she has to begin every speech by saying what an irredeemable bin fire the economy was when she first walked into Number 11. I hope someone has trademarked the use of '£22 billion black hole' and 'disastrous Liz Truss mini-budget'. She then had to perform a rhetorical handbrake turn in order to get us to the sunlit uplands. This she tried to achieve by listing all the brilliant things she'd already done to get the economy into the wonderful state it is now. Ha ha. 'I set up new fiscal rules which are non-negotiable and will always be met,' Reeves asserted, apparently believing that her made-up rules had somehow morphed into the Mosaic Covenant without a hint of irony. She bragged about her begging-bowl trip to China. I sometimes think about the poor CCP-bugging official who is tasked with listening in to her office. It must make the Shipping Forecast sound like 50 Shades of Grey in comparison. She delighted in the creation of a new quango called 'Skills England'. Amid all the predictable bumph there were major policy announcements that will dominate the headlines: support for a new runway at Heathrow, billions for new reservoirs, and a plan to turn the area between Oxford and Cambridge into a new Silicon Valley. It's a sign of the topsy-turvy world that we live in that this latter news will probably be better received by dons over their port in the SCR than it will be by the students at those universities themselves, who are probably planning to lie down in front of bulldozers as we speak. One got the slight sense that these headline-grabbers were the Chancellor's last throw of the dice. Sir Keir hasn't exactly been supportive of his Chancellor and the stress of a job for which it has become clear she is underqualified has been visibly getting to her. Outside, farmers made noisy protests at the spite tax, which the Government is determined to foist on them. There's the slightest air of Comical Ali about each governmental policy launch. All is very obviously not going well. Even today, as she flashed awkward smiles towards the press at the moments where she'd clearly been coached to do so, she looked a little bit like she'd been prepped by an undertaker. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
