The Galway Film Fleadh (7-12 July), one of Ireland’s leading film events, has announced the launch of a new festival network called Europa Film Festivals (EFF). The news was first reported by Irish film portal iftn.ie. The primary goal of the network, so far composed of 12 partners, is to create a system for sharing information, strategies and culture amongst festivals, so as to have strong common positions on key issues concerning Europe.

The organisation will work on developing resources, models and practices to support its members in the emerging film ecosystem. In cooperation with Galway 2020 and the Fleadh, EFF festivals will co-curate Peripheral Visions, a competitive programme of films with the themes of “Language, Landscape and Migration”. The programme will be available to view online during the Irish event, and the winning film will receive a prize of €3,000.

Speaking about the initiative with iftn.ie, Galway 2020’s head of programme, Marilyn Gaughan-Reddan, said: “The team at Galway 2020 is delighted to partner with Galway Film Fleadh on Peripheral Visions, a very significant pan-European project for our programme as a European Capital of Culture. We would like to congratulate the Fleadh for producing an incredible event; we are looking forward to seeing years of work come to fruition.”

The founding members of EFF are Miriam Allen (chair and managing director of the Galway Film Fleadh), Alexis Juncosa (Luxembourg City Film Festival), Michele Devlin (Belfast Film Festival), Hrönn Marinósdóttir (Reykjavik International Film Festival), Alejandro Díaz Castaño (Gijón International Film Festival), Fredau Buwalda (Noordelijk Film Festival), Kathrin Kohlstedde (Filmfest Hamburg), Nektarios Sakkas (Athens International Film Festival), Emmanuel Cuénod (Geneva International Film Festival), Milja Mikkola (Midnight Sun Film Festival), Johanna Caraire (Festival International du Film Indépendant de Bordeaux) and Guilhem Caillard (Montreal’s Festival de Films CINEMANIA).