Garret and Martina at the Galway Film Fleadh.

Popular Daingean film to be screened at Galway Fleadh for second time!

Daingean film 'A Nightingale Falling’ proved so popular at the Galway Film Fleadh this week that arrangements have been made to screen it again - only the second time in the Fleadh’s 26 years that such an arrangement has been made.

'A Nightingale Falling’ sold out the 400-seater Town Hall Theatre in Galway for its world premier on Wednesday night. It will be screened again on Sunday, the same day those behind the film will find out if lead actress Tara Breathnach has won the festival’s Bingham Ray New Talent Award.

Speaking to the Offaly Independent after the premier director Garret Daly from Daingean said he’s also confident the film will be released in Irish cinemas later this year.

“It was wonderful,” Garret said, describing the Wednesday night world premier. “There was a really great reaction to it - the audience really engaged with it.

“In terms of film festivals, Galway is one of the strongest in Ireland,” he continued, “so from that point of view it was a great place to launch it.”

'A Nightingale Falling’ was shot mostly in Daingean on a shoestring budget last summer. The tale of two sisters who care for a wounded soldier during the War of Independence, it’s based on the novel by PJ Curtis. Mr Curtis was unfortunately not in attendance on Wednesday night, however, as he’s recovering from surgery.

The film stars Tara Breathnach (The Last Days of Anne Boleyn, The Tudors), Muireann Bird (Rough Diamond, Jack Taylor: The Magdalen Martyrs) and Gerard McCarthy (The Fall) in principal roles and period costume design by Meritta Gorman-Geoghegan, along with locals in supporting roles and as extras.

Shot by Mixed Bag Media, the film is the company’s latest success after the canal documentary 'A Grand Experience’.

Garret Daly and Martina McGlynn of Mixed Bag Media are set to remain in Galway until the conclusion of the film fleadh on Sunday now, with meetings scheduled relating to the film’s future. 

“The plan would be to release it in cinemas later this year,” Garret explained. “There’s a business element to the festival, and we’re looking to secure distribution here and abroad. It’s the next, difficult phase, but we’re confident. We’ve had a lot of interest in the movie.”