Galway African Film Festival (GAFF) is an annual African film festival taking place in Galway on the westcoast of Ireland in late May / early June to coincide with Africa Day, an annual commemoration on May 25 of the 1963 founding of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU). It aims to showcase the wealth and diversity of African film that would otherwise be inaccessible to Galway audiences. Secondly, the Festival aims to reflect and celebrate the culturally diverse profile of Galway society, the city with the highest percentage (2.8%) of people from African Counties Irish CSO 2006. The Festival is organised by the Galway One World Centre in collaboration with the Huston School of Film & Digital Media and the Galway Film Society. Venues for screenings of films have included the Town Hall Theatre, Huston School of Film & Digital Media, and Nuns Island Theatre. The Festival is supported by Irish Aid, Galway City Arts Office and the Galway Advertiser.
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The Festival includes all genres of African Cinema, including documentaries, children's films, shorts, classic and contemporaries. The films are normally not on general release within the Republic, thereby providing people in Ireland an opportunity to see the continent of Africa through a perspective that is different to Hollywood. Guests to the Festival have included Keith Shiri (Africa at the Pictures, London), Alex Ogou (Lead Actor, Clouds over Conakry), Tendeka Matatu (Producer, Jerusalema) and Andrew Webber (Editor, Mirror Boy). Films in 2010 included The Figurine Araromire (Nigeria), Mascarades (France/Algeria) and A Sting in a Tale (Ghana).[1], while in 2011, the festival included acclaimed movies Benda Bilili (Congo), Microphone (Egypt) and The Atlete (Ethiopia).[2]
The Galway African Film Festival was established in 2008 with funding from Irish Aid.