14 November 2006: To mark 100 years since the birth of John Huston, the Huston School of Film and Digital Media at NUI Galway, will host a unique two day conference, from 23-24 November, to celebrate the life and work of the legendary director.

As part of the centenary celebrations there will be a public screening of a brand new print of The Misfits, starring Marilyn Monroe, Clark Gable and Montgomery Clift, at 7pm on Wednesday 22 November at the Galway Omniplex. The last film Huston directed, The Dead, from the James Joyce short story and starring Donal McCann with Angelica Huston, will be shown at 9pm on Saturday, 25 November at the Galway Omniplex. Entry to both screenings is free of charge.

Huston had strong connections with the west of Ireland, having made Craughwell, Co Galway his home for 18 years, where his fine Georgian manor house St Clerans still stands. In between hunting and fishing – he was joint master of the Galway Blazers - Huston continued his international film-making career and made significant contributions to the Irish film industry. Parts of Moby Dick (1956), Macintosh Man (1973) and the original Casino Royale (1967) were shot in Ireland and he chaired the committee which produced the Huston Report (1968), which marked an early attempt to establish an Irish film board.

Tony Tracy, Huston School of Film & Digital Media, NUI Galway, commented, "Huston directed 41 films over 46 years and was much celebrated by his peers and associates, with 15 Oscar nominations. However, he has been under-represented in movie literature and criticism. This conference seeks to redress such neglect and provide a forum for as wide a consideration of his contribution to cinema as possible."

Highlights of the conference will be panel discussions, film critiques and keynote speeches by Patrick McGilligan, contributing editor of American Film magazine, Luke Gibbons of Notre Dame University and by Joseph McBride of San Francisco State University.

The Conference is sponsored by Coca-Cola Bottlers Ireland and is supported by the NUI Galway Millennium Fund.

For more information contact Tony Tracy (091 512188) / tony.tracy@nuigalway.ie

Notes to Editors

A hugely versatile and charismatic figure in American film, Huston directed 41 films over 46 years - the first being the film noir classic The Maltese Falcon (1941), while his last was The Dead (1987), adapted from the James Joyce short story. Huston had a long and distinguished career as a writer, director and later as an actor, notably as the chillingly corrupt Noah Cross in Polanski's Chinatown (1974). He was nominated, in various capacities, 15 times for an Academy Award (Oscar), winning twice for his work as writer and director for The Treasure of Sierra Madre (1948). He has the distinction of being the only director to direct both his father and daughter to Oscar success: the first in Sierra Madre and Angelica in Prizzi's Honor (1985). He was recipient of an AFI Lifetime Achievement award in 1983.