Dun, dun, dun, dun, Dunmanway!
In a West Cork town far, far away (but not that far really) an intergalactic Star Wars festival is gearing up for its second outing.
Every galactic faction is invited to this year’s Feel The Force Festival in Dunmanway, from dodgy Imperials to reckless Rebels, mysterious bounty hunters to scruffy smugglers, all are welcome – even the Hutts!
Taking place across the June bank holiday weekend, the festival promises two action packed days of Star Wars themed activities, workshops, and cosplay for all ages and galactic associations.
This Year’s theme is ‘Feel The Force VS Super Heroes & Villains’, so it’s not just Star Wars cosplay, all are invited to come as their favourite character from the Marvel and DC universes and beyond.
In an interesting turn of events, this year’s festival will be officially opened by H.E. Wan Aznainizam Yusri, the Malaysian Ambassador to Ireland who had heard about the festival and one of its organisers, Malaysian national Nuri Albakri. When Nuri had to go to the Malaysian Embassy in Dublin to collect his passport, the Ambassador requested that he bring one of his Star Wars cosplays with him. After bonding over a shared love for Transformers, the Ambassador was officially invited as a guest of honour to this year’s Feel The Force Festival.
The Ambassador will launch the festival on 31 May and on 1 June will do a live podcast with Patrick Kiely of Flux Learning, an online learning company based in West Cork.
As part of this intergalactic alliance, Malaysian chefs from Cork and Dublin will be cooking up a storm(trooper) with Malaysian street food, cakes, and other refreshments.
Dunmanway’s own West Cork Tuskens will be cosplaying across the two days, as will Reel Icons, a group of professional, movie-accurate cosplayers from Dublin. Also attending will be members of Los Frikis de la Galaxia all the way from Spain, giving this year’s festival a truly international feel.
Event Coordinator, Catherine Crowley, said: “It’s been nearly 12 months since the very first Feel The Force Festival and what a whirlwind of a year it’s been. We finished that weekend on an absolute high at what had been achieved and how successful it had been.”
Earlier this year, the Feel The Force Festival was named Best West Cork Festival for 2024 in the Southern Star's West Cork Business and Tourism Awards.