British & Irish Film Festival Sees Another 30% Rise in Attendance

On Saturday 21 September 2024, the Closing Screening of the British and Irish Film Festival Luxembourg 2024 Autumn Edition was held at Ciné Utopia in Luxembourg-Limpertsberg.

Before the screening of Froggie, a bilingual Irish comedy, the Festival Awards were held. Firstly, Festival Organiser, Geoff Thompson, briefly recapped the main happenings of the autumn festival and singled out the launch of the 2nd edition of the Young Filmmakers Competition, the first edition of which attracted great interest. He stated: "It was particularly gratifying to see the result of the winners' 10-minute documentary 'Being Human' which asked challenging questions and included great cinematography with wonderful editing. We are delighted to have given young filmmakers Noah Piff and Sylvain De Bel the opportunity and encouragement an avenue for their creativity".

He confirmed that a number of screenings were sold out, with others also coming close, and mentioned all the Special Guests who attended the festival in person, including Mark Agar (director/actor), Siobhan Aislinn (producer/actor), Caroline Quinn, Robert Flynn and Heather Lynn (actor) for Blurred Lines; Lee Crowley (producer) of The Line and Warts and All; Fintan Connolly (director) and Fiona Bergin (writer) of Barber; Imelda May (actor), plus Anne Heath, Sally Wood (producers) for The People Before; Pat Shortt (director) for Warts and All (short), and both Sean T. O'Meallaigh (actor) and Luke Morgan (director) for Froggie.

His thanks included both the Irish and British embassies and ambassadors, the many organisations who have awarded the festival grants, the sponsors and advertisers, the various service partners and community partners, the 20 volunteers, Terri who does the marketing and social media, and Ali as photographer, with a special call out for the audiences who he stressed "make the festival".

He talked about the increase in audience numbers, recalling the 30% growth in pre-pandemic numbers attending when adopting the two editions a year format from 2023. He stated: "I am delighted that this year, for our 15th edition, we have seen a further 30% growth in audience numbers, which is absolutely fantastic and shows how much an appetite there is for British and Irish cinema and learning about the making of such films from our Special Guests".

The festival edition still have some other screenings outside the core festival dates, with three at the Kinoler regional cinema in Kahler, near Steinfort: Dead Shot, Baltimore and Kiss of the Con Queen.

He addressed next Friday's screening of the 35-minute documentary Luxembourg in America, the filming of which was done over the summer during the 38th annual Luxembourg Fest in Wisconsin in America's mid-west. "This provides a fascinating glimpse into Luxembourg's heritage in the US following emigration of tens of thousands of Luxembourgers in the late 19th century and how their descendants thrive today. We would be delighted to see many of you back here on Friday for the first screening of that film which is taking place during Heritage Days 2024, with a second screening the following Monday at Kinoler".

Prior to the Awards, the Ambassador of Ireland to Luxembourg, Jean McDonald, addressed the audience and thanked those involved in the organisation, also mentioning the strength of Irish and British cinema.

The Critics' Award was delivered by Sharon Bowman who read out the decision by Jean-Pierre Thiltges of the Luxembourg Film Critics Association, the ALPC, who awarded it to The Trouble with Jessica by Matt Winn. In his note, he stated: "Not only does [the film] bow its head to Alfred Hitchcock's Technicolor masterpiece 'The Trouble with Harry', but the film is also a witty, humorous, sarcastic and irreverent celebration of some of the wittiest classic British comedies ever made, like 'Kind Hearts and Coronets', 'The Lavender Hill Mob' or even the 'Miss Marple' flicks with Margaret Rutherford".

For the Audience Award, Kathleen Harris' Birdsong pipped The Teacher and Kneecap, continuing the strong showing of documentaries in the festival.

The Audience Prizes were won by Maeve Bouchez and Jacqueline Ambridge who were presented with a Hamper from Home from Home and a Magnum of Crémant from Barnard-Massard, respectively.

Geoff Thompson confirmed that the dates of the 2025 Spring Edition will be 21-29 March, "for which we have already lined up some really interesting films as well as the results of the 2nd Young Filmmakers Competition for which the top prize is two industry passes to the Galway Film Fleadh in July". He added: "Before then, we hope to screen a number of Avant-Premiers through our collaboration with Kinepolis and Ciné Utopia, with 'Midas Man' already confirmed for 15 October".

The evening then saw the screening of the bilingual comedy drama Froggie, following which a Q&A with the lead actor, Sean T O'Meallaigh, and director, Luke Morgan, showed how much the audience loved the film, the storyline and the messages of brotherly love and sibling rivalry, as well as understanding the balance of Irish and English used in the film.

The evening concluded with a networking reception.