The Galway Film Fleadh announced its programme in that fine city earlier this week. The prestigious event, which runs from July 10th to July 15th, boasts 13 world premieres and seven European premieres.

The Fleadh opens with Grabbers, Jon Wright’s tale of monstrous goings on in the west of Ireland, which has already picked up strong word at the recovering Edinburgh Film Festival. The closing film will be James Marsh’s excellent Northern Irish thriller Shadow Dancer. Other Irish features include Agnès Merlet Hideaways, Mark O’Connor’s Stalker, Alan Brennan’s Earthbound and Bing Bailey’s tartly titled Portrait of a Zombie. John Carney, director of Once, returns to the Fleadh with a ghost story called The Rafters.

The organisers were proud to announce the attendance of the formidable French actor Isabelle Huppert. We will report further next week. galwayfilmfleadh.com