As part of the Galway Film Centre and Galway Film Festival film award initiative

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As part of the Galway Film Centre and Galway Film Festival film award initiative, Ronan Gallagher's six minute short 'Guest of The Nation' which was conceived, cast, crewed, shot, edited and produced over the five days of the Festival, was screened on closing night in the Town Hall @ 7pm Sunday 14th along with Coisceim's 'Hit and Run'.

Made on a budget of 100 euro, the film was shot on a Canon XL1 and edited on an Apple computer using Final Cut Pro. It is a good example of the immediacy of working with digital film and shows what can be done with a limited budget. As Gallagher himself puts it, 'Everything I needed to make this film, including my excellent cast and crew, could fit into the back of my battered old Peugeot 205'

It stars Nigerian actor and writer Eugene Ebhonuaye a Christian who fled sectarianism and racism in his own country to end up in Ballinamore in Ireland with his Ukrainian wife Irene who is a Muslim.

The film highlights the plight of many asylum seekers who have been traumatised and tormented by evil forces in their own countries, many of whose regimes are encouraged and supported for financial and geo-political reasons by the very countries in the west that seek to stop such people seeking sanctuary. The film hopes to stimulate debate as to whether we should be looking at the push factors in the refugee issue as well as the pull factors. What drives them to travel great distances, risk life and limb to get to our shores? In many cases it is because of brutality and human rights abuses, in many more it is for economic reasons brought about by appalling corruption and mismanagement of their economies by corrupt Governments, many of whose leaders are welcomed here as 'Guests of the Nation' having millions of taxpayers money spent on lavishing them in gifts, honours and trade. A very different welcome than we extend to the victims of these same leaders.

Ronan Gallagher

Guest of the Nation has been supported by The Galway Film Centre and the Galway Film Festival.

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