The Cork Film Festival will be the first Irish festival to pilot a new European-wide project to bring festival films to public libraries. One of only seven festivals across Europe taking part in the AVA (Audio Visual Access) project, the initiative commences in Cork from 1^st June in partnership with Cork City’s Central Library on Grand Parade.

Special viewing stations have been installed in Cork City’s Central Library, allowing the public to watch films curated from the previous year’s film festival, free of charge.

AVA commences with a series of 13 short films that premiered at the 2016 Cork Film Festival. Titled ‘Best of Cork’, this first library of films showcases some of the finest Cork filmmaking talent.

Speaking on the introduction of AVA to Central Library, Cork Film Festival Producer Fiona Clark said: “Libraries play a vital role in ensuring the public have equal access to media. We are delighted to partner with Central Library on this exciting initiative, to create greater access to local, national and international films for the people of Cork and visitors to the city.

“For over 80% of the films presented at the Cork Film Festival in November each year, it is the only chance to see them on the big screen in Cork.  It is fantastic, that after the buzz of the festival has come to an end, more audiences will have an opportunity to see the wonderful short film programmes we have carefully curated. It will serve as a model going forward for future collaborations.”

 Images from the launch event below:

Two further series, Irish Shorts and World Shorts, will also be available during the summer, in the lead up to the 2017 Festival. It is hoped that this pilot project will extend into 2018, with feature documentaries and shorts selected from this year’s Festival, and include a video-on-demand facility for library card-holders.

Cork City Librarian, Liam Ronayne added: “Cork City Libraries are delighted to be working with Cork Film Festival and international partners to give all library visitors the opportunity to access our audio-visual heritage through this collaboration.”

AVA is brought to Cork by the Cork Film Festival in partnership with Central Library, PicturePipe and Reelport. It is co-funded by the European Union, Creative Europe Media.

The Cork Film Festival is Ireland’s oldest film festival, showcasing the best in Irish, independent, and international cinema. The 62^nd edition of the Cork Film Festival runs 10-19 November 2017. For more information, visit www.corkfilmfest.org

The Cork Film Festival is grant aided by The Arts Council, as principal funder, and Cork City Council, together with support from the Irish Film Board, Broadcasting Authority of Ireland, Screen Training Ireland, Culture Ireland, and Fáilte Ireland.