A long, long time ago, in a county far, far away...the Irish Adventure Film Festival & Tour was born.

 

Well, that might be a bit of stretch. It wasn’t that long ago. 2012. And it wasn’t that far away. Unless Galway is considered far from Mayo.

 

The Irish Adventure Film Festival & Tour (IAFF) began life in Galway, Ireland, in 2012 as the What If, Why Not? Adventure Film and Music Festival. That turned out to be a bit of a mouthful during radio interviews. So we changed the name in 2013 to the Why Not? Adventure Film Festival. In 2018 we moved the festival to Westport, Co. Mayo. Over a carb-heavy meal and too much craft beer an impromptu renaming and rebranding ceremony was held. And the Irish Adventure Film Festival & Tour was born  (yes, we’ve had more name changes than Prince).

 

The Irish Adventure Film Festival has evolved over the years. It started as a passion project. And has grown each year since 2012. In 2015 two rather nice UK adventurers named us among the top ten adventure film festivals. And in 2016 six hundred and eighty tickets were sold at the festival and its fringe events. Over 150 films from 20+ countries were submitted.  Including an Oscar-winning documentary and work from an Emmy Award-winning producer. 

 

In 2017 we changed the time of year we held the festival from Oct to Feb. Which meant that we skipped a year. In case anyone was wondering what happened to us in 2017.

 

The festival and tour have one guiding principle. To inspire people to get outside and undertake their own adventures. No matter how small.

 

It’s run by Graham Clarke. And would 100% not be possible without the help of a motley crew of volunteers, film selection committee members and lots and lots of coffee. Too much coffee really.