Guth Gafa International Documentary Film Festival have partnered with Soilsiú Films in Donegal and OnlineFilm AG in Germany in a new online distribution venture, to provide a great opportunity for Irish producers to distribute their films and get them more widely seen.

Guth Gafa has won one of the top awards at The Carlton Best of Festivals Awards today in Ballinasloe, County Galway

A big Thank You from the Guth Gafa team to all those people who supported the 2009 Festival, and roll on 2010.

This year Guth Gafa brings you a fascinating and timely seminar programme, supported by the Irish Film Board and Screen Training Ireland, which examines the changing conditions under which both documentary filmmaking and distribution operate. Filmmakers, funders, distributors and more discuss how documentaries get made and how they find their way to the cinema screen.

Last minute funding support from the Indian Council for Cultural Relations has allowed the Guth Gafa Documentary Festival to bring to Ireland one of India’s leading filmmakers, Arvind Sinha, and his film, King of India.

Opening the 4th Guth Gafa International Documentary Film Festival is John Webster's delightful and entertaining, Recipes for Disaster (Finland) broaching the Subject of enviornmental issues and conservation. The director convinces his wife and two small children that the whole family should go on an oil diet.

This year’s international Guth Gafa programme will screen a powerful selection of international human rights films about children, Red Race (China), which deals with the cruel and often sadistic gymnastics training of 5 and 6 year old Chinese boys and girls.

Our International Festival Highlights will include No More Smoke Signals (Switzerland), winner of The Swiss Film Prize 2009; Forgetting Dad (Germany/USA) winner of the Special Jury prize IDFA 2008, RIP – A Remix Manifesto (Canada) winner of Audience award, IDFA 2008; My Mother’s Farm (Norway/ Latvia, 2008) and  La Forteresse (Switzerland) winner of the Golden Leopard award Locarno International Film Festival 2008).

For 2009, our budget has been hit badly by the recession, but we are still going full steam ahead with our Festival, and we are determined to make it better than ever.  And we are hoping for your support in any one of the following ways:

Our first competition is now closed for entries.  Winners will be contacted on Monday 18th May.  If you missed out on the first competition, in our second one, three lucky winners will receive a Festival Pass and an original design Festival t-shirt.

The Guth Gafa Festival team have launched their 2009 programme for their new dates - June 12th to June 14th.  The 2009 Festival will be opened by Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, Eamon Ryan.