In a way it was a little unusual for me to be surrounded by so many close relations while watching Dierdre Lynch's profound and brilliantly moving film 'Photos to send' in this weekend's Wurzburg International Film Festival.

Dierdre's work deals with her own journey of self discovery as she meets and films people of West Clare ( from Ennis to Miltown Malbay) who 50 years earlier had encountered the charming and one of the most talented US photographers of the 20th century - Dorothea Lange. In reality a physically weak and somewhat feeble looking woman, due to contracting Polio as a teenager, who had a passion for people and was able to capture a little bit of their inner essence through her 'natural light only' camera.

Much has been written about the film and how it came about -see www.stkilians.de under Termine/Schedules for reviews - so I'll inform you more on how the film's appearance at the Würzburg International Film Festival impacted the St Kilian's members.

Ever since Shane MacGowan, Sarah and Joey left Würzburg after the Film Festival of 2003 JP and myself had been on the look out for the next Big Screen hit to appear at the next festival. After the 'man from Pucan' experience the sky was the limit and there was nobody that the best little GAA club in Northern Bavaria couldn't handle. All types of names were periodically thrown about - Gillian someone, someone Farrell, Sheridan ... still there wasn't really a consensus. In the summer Padraic Garraihy ,a Doolin friend who had recently re-located back to Dublin after a six year Boston stint, spoke very highly of a film that has appeared recently at a Harvard film festival. It's name was 'Photos to send'. Later on that week a certain Mz Dalton showed me a Photo Album ' Dorothea Lange's Irland ' and raved about the ensuing film when it had been screened in Galway. Things were coming together and after some research I knew this was the St Kilian's entry into the 2004 Film festival!

We contacted Dierdre in October and her agreement and enthusiasm were infectious. The deal was quickly done and when all the logistical stuff was out of the way Marcus picked her from Frankfurt airport on Wed Jan 21^st. It was later that night I met her - none the worse for not having slept for 36 hours, 12 of which were spent in a plane! After a quick bite to eat it was of the roller coaster madness ride that is Würzburg International Film Festival week!

Here Dierdre showed snippets of her film to people from a local photography group and students of English who Franziska had encouraged to attend. Very positive discussions in the only pub in Würzburg that is furnitured exclusively with couchs and arm-chairs! On of the nights memories was Dierdre explaining the turf cutting scene to two identical twins from the Ukraine who had just begun their three years Doctorate in Astro-physics at the local university.

Dierdre spoke at length to a group comprising of late teenagers who were studying Cinematography and Photography for their Abitur ( Leaving Cert equivalent ). There was a precocious girl who acted as translator for her 40 or so class-mates. For over 90 minutes there were presentation, questions and answers in a very relaxed setting. Kudos to their teacher Visual Arts teacher Sabine Blum-Fingsten for inspiring such passionate and interest in her student classes.

Many thanks to Britta for getting her group of 8 dancers to perform before the screening. An excellent job that was well appreciated by the film's audience. Apologises for the unusual musical choreography!! ( Three people about 20 meters apart from one another were using various hand sign to signal the sequence the music had to be played - speakers were upstairs by dancers but CD player was two floors down!!! )

After becoming good friends with the Tony the projectionist and getting everything just right the show began! A very moving and emotional film that was exceptionally well received by an audience - afterwards Dierdre spoke at length about her involvement with the film.

Prime-time & there's nothing like it!! Queues before the unopened doors, masses of people in corridors and stairs with the film playing to a full house meaning 350 bums on seats! As the film had finished and the credits were still going up the silence of the still dark hall was broken by all the rustling of teabags in plastic tags that were being handed out by Dierdre. You have to see the film to understand the significance!! A very lively discussion followed that had to be brought to a close because of banging on the doors from audience that wanted to to get in for the next film!

'Kodak moments' all around. Dierdre getting bored at having to listen through 20 minutes of German language that meant nothing to her. Her name being called out as Best Documentary Film. I confirming that 'Yepper - you won'! Tony the projectionist running down the theatre steps to hug and congratulate her before she got to the stage to collect award!! Magical stuff really that kept going for some until 7:00am that Monday morning.

Another highlight in a weekend of highlights! Food cooked and presented excellently by Matthias in the club-house of the famed Würzburg rowing club. About 10 people in all from three different continents who all were touched by the Film Fest weekend. Pictures of the event can be seen under http://people.freenet.de/Metzger.Bernhard

Dierdre has made her way slowly back to New Hampshire and left us with only happy memories of her and her wonderful film. We look forward to seeing it in general release here and back in Ireland.