Irish actress Ruth Negga is set to attend the 28th Galway Film Fleadh as a guest of honour, and to host an Acting Masterclass at the festival in association with Screen Training Ireland.
The Ethiopian-born, Limerick-raised, actress has worked in a host of film, television, and theatre roles over the last 13 years, and brings with her a wealth of experience in domestic and international productions. She broke out in Ireland after a starring role in Neil Jordan’s Breakfast on Pluto, with the director loving her audition so much that he rewrote the script to allow her to appear. She subsequently went on to star in UK TV series Misfits, as well as playing as Rosie in RTÉ’s Love/Hate.
Her next film Loving, is based on the landmark civil rights case Loving v. Virginia, which was brought by Mildred Loving (Negga), a black woman, and Richard Loving (Joel Edgerton), a white man, who had been sentenced to a year in prison in Virginia for marrying each other. Their marriage violated the state’s anti-miscegenation statute, the Racial Integrity Act of 1924, which prohibited marriage between people classified as “white” and people classified as “colored”. The Supreme Court’s unanimous decision held this prohibition was unconstitutional and ended all race-based legal restrictions on marriage in the United States. The film went down a storm at Cannes and has Negga firmly in Oscar contention.
Loving continues a great run for Negga, who shot to prominence in the US after becoming a series regular on Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. She can currently be seen on TV as Tulip O’Hare in fantasy drama series Preacher, and on the big screen as Lady Taria in Duncan Jones’ Warcraft.
Previous host of the Acting Masterclass include international stars such as John C. Reilly, Zachary Quinto, Isabelle Huppert, Jeremy Irons, and Kathy Bates, as well as Irish stars Fionnula Flanagan, Michael Fassbender, Pierce Brosnan, Aidan Quinn, Colm Meaney, and Gabriel Byrne.
The masterclass will be facilitated by Maureen Hughes of Bow Street and will take place on Saturday the 9th of July from 10am – 1pm in the Radisson Hotel, Galway. Price €25. For further information or to apply for a place, contact Brónagh Keys at 091-562200 or email: masterclasses@filmfleadh.ie Age restriction: must be 18+ years of age.
The closing date for applications is: 1pm Friday July 1st 2016.
The 28th Galway Film Fleadh runs July 5th to 10th, 2016. More information can be found on the official website, Facebook page, and Twitter.