Galway: City of Film

Galway is the first and so far the only Irish city to secure the prestigious designation of Unesco City of Film which was awarded in December 2014 and can now claim to be one of only five cities of film in the world to achieve this much sought-after status. Home to the likes of the Galway Film Fleadh, the Huston School of Film & Digital Media at NUIG and the Irish Language television station, TG4, Galway has a long and rich connection with the Irish film industry.

Here are some numbers which help explain why Galway has such a strong film heritage:

• Over 100 years of film-making, going back to 1905 when the first films were made in Galway.
• The film and television industry in Galway is valued at €72 million, and employs over 600 people full-time.
• Galway Film Society – Ireland’s biggest and longest running film society at over fifty years.
• Galway Film Fleadh – recently named as one of the top 25 coolest film festivals out of 7,000 in the world, and the only Irish Film Festival to make the list.
• 26 years of the Galway Film Centre providing training and education in communities and school.
• 5 years of Little Cinema Galway with Chris O’Dowd as their patron.
• Largest audiovisual sector outside of Dublin with 50 production companies employing over 600 people working in film and television.
• 24.5% growth in employment and an 18.6% increase in revenue for the industry over the past five years.
• The Picture Palace, Galway’s new state-of-the-art contemporary arthouse cinema, currently being developed, is the first of its kind in the west of Ireland and due to open soon.
• 14 years of the Cinemobile, Ireland’s mobile cinema.