This week-end saw a series of incredible stories recounted on the big screen for the 6th annual British 6 Irish Film Season in Luxembourg.

On Saturday the Documentary Double Bill featured firstly Generate the State which told the story of the Irish government allocating 20% of the state's annual budget in 1929 for the builsing of a sustainable energy solution in order to "electrify the state", by way of a hydroelectric power station at Ardnacrusha on the River Shannon. Director Johnny gogan joined afterwards for a Q&A session via Skype and explained how the challenges are the same now as they were then, almost 100 years later, albeit more acute.

Second up was A Doctor's Sword which investigated the story of the samurai sword hanging on the wall in a pub in cork in Ireland. The story showed how Dr Aidan McCarthy, the son of the owner of the family pub, studied and became a doctor and joined the RAF in Britain. He went to Dunkerque and then Singapore and Java before being captured by the Japanese. He ended up in a POW camp at Nagasaki and was there when the bomb fell, but survived. Director Bob Jackson further revealed during the Q&A that the sword's handle and blade were hundreds of years old and had most likely been involved in some horrific acts.

Sunday then saw Finny making an appearance at the only English-language screening of Two by Two (Ooops Noah is Gone), an animated adventure which was co-produced in Ireland and Luxembourg, as well as Germany, Belgium and the US. The audience, both young and old, were mesmerised by the storyline about Finny and his friend who miss Noah's ark sailing when the fllod arrives, and their adventures, recounting tales of adversity and friendship. Sean McCormack, director, explained afterwards to a spellbound audience that 120+ people worked on that project and anyone who wants to become an animator must be good at drawing in school. Finny posed for photos with many of the audience too.

Last up, on Sunday evening, was Set Fire to the Stars, a black & white film written by and starring Celyn Jones as Dylan Thomas the Welsh poet famed as much for his hellraising as for his literary genius. The storyline follows his literary agent, played by Elijah Wood, whose idea it was to bring Thomas to the US, but then he finds his job is more to keep him sober and polite than manage the logistics of the tour itself.

Great stories all round with something for everyone throughout the week-end. The Film Season continues today (Monday) with another Welsh Film, Black Mountain Poets (19:00) with producer John Rennie joing for a post-screening Q&A,  and The Lobster, starring Colin Farrell, which won a prize in Cannes this year.

Photos: festival organiser Geoff Thompson with (above) Bob Jackson and (below) Sean McCormack