Songs for Amy selected for Californian film festival

KINVARA-based Sonny & Skye Productions’ first feature film, Songs for Amy has been officially selected for the Newport Beach Film Festival in California and will hold its World Premiere there on May 1.
It has also been officially selected for the Galway Film Fleadh and its Irish premiere will take place during the summer.
The Newport Beach Film Festival focuses on showcasing a diverse collection of both studio and independent films and has hosted premieres for box office hits like Crash and Layer Cake.
Songs for Amy is said to be a darkly comic love story, which is set in the West of Ireland and New York. It has been selected in the Spotlight on Irish Film and Spotlight on Music categories at Newport Beach.
The main character is a musician called Sean O’Malley, played by Sean Maguire, who writes an album for the girl he loves in an attempt to redeem himself. The album takes him on a roller-coaster journey of self-discovery, where he is both helped and hindered by his misfit band mates.
Writer and producer Fiona Graham said the film is “like a visual album”, adding Galway plays an important part in it. “Galway is a character in the film. We are also thrilled about our selection to the Newport Film Festival and to be in the company of the acclaimed films that have previously premiered there.”
Speaking about the film’s selection for the festivals, director Konrad Begg said, “We are delighted to have our world premiere at Newport Beach in the heart of the industry and to present the film to an American audience. In today’s world where non-commercial grass roots music is flourishing and the art of writing a song is celebrated, I think its fantastic that a film like ours has been selected in the ‘Spotlight on Music’ category and I can’t wait to see what response we get from American audiences. It’s fantastic that we get to show it at an internationally renowned festival on home turf and in the city that inspired Fiona in the first place.”