Dingle International Film Festival


The Dingle International Film Festival was a film festival held annually in March that took place between 2007 and 2019 in Dingle, Ireland.

History

Established in 2007 by founder Maurice Galway an experimental filmmaker who also founded the Kerry International Film Festival in 1999. Notable guests have included inventor Garrett Brown, Gabriel Bryne, Laura Dern, Ned Dowd, Aidan Gillen, sound engineer Tom Johnson, Sarah Miles, Cillian Murphy, Barry Keoghan, Barbara Kopple, Maureen O Hara, Sir Alan Parker, Jack Reynor, Saoirse Ronan, Jim Sheridan, Scott Wilson.

Festival closing

The festival closed its door for financial reasons in July 2019. While the curtain has fallen on the Dingle International Film Festival the Animation Dingle Film festival, that was ran as an "offshoot", will continue. The 2020 presentations, scheduled for March 20-21, 2020, was cancelled due to the coronavirus but winners were announced via a live-stream awards announcement presented by JAM Media.

Awards

The Gregory Peck Award for Excellence in the Art of Film

The family of iconic Hollywood actor Gregory Peck presented a career achievement award at the festival until it's closing in 2019. Peck's great grandmother Catherine Ashe hailed from Annascaul in the Dingle Peninsula. Peck was a cousin to Thomas Ashe, founding member and battalion commander of the Irish Volunteers during the Easter Rising who later died in prison as the result of a hunger strike.
Notable recipients at Dingle IFF are Gabriel Byrne, Jim Sheridan, Jean Jacques Beineix, Stephen Frears and Laura Dern. In 2014, the Peck family began presenting the award at the San Diego International Film Festival in the actor's native hometown. Other recipients include Alan Arkin, Patrick Stewart, Annette Bening, Keith Carradine and Lawrence Fishburne.

Animation awards

In 2015, the festival held Ireland’s first ever animation awards ceremony in association with Animation Ireland. Recipients of the Murakami Award have included Jimmy T. Murakami, Richie Baneham, Tomm Moore and Don Bluth and Gary Goldman.

Non-competition events

The Irish Film Board has hosted a selection of critically acclaimed Irish films.
Classic films like Ryan's Daughter have opened the festival.