Sara Pascoe and Kevin McAleer Ballymully bound

Nominated for best show at the 2014 Fosters Edinburgh Comedy Awards and winner of the 2014 Chortle Breakthrough Award, Pascoe has been working as a comedy actor, sketch performer, improviser and writer since 2006.

The Londoner can be seen on TV regularly on shows such as ‘Mock The Week’, ‘Live at the Apollo’, ‘Have I got news for you’, ‘8 out of 10 cats does countdown’ and many more.

Kevin McAleer came to prominence on the RTÉ television show Nighthawks which began broadcasting in the late 1980s. McAleer became known for his three-minute sketches of surreal rustic tales told in his slow County Tyrone drawl.

Critics claim he puts the dead back into deadpan and his act is sure to go down a treat at Stendhal.

Creative Director at Stendhal Festival of Art, Ross Parkhill, says that he is delighted that both are on the bill, continuing the festivals fine tradition of showcasing some of the UK and Irelands top comic talent.

“We have been really lucky when it comes to getting top-class comedy to Stendhal over the past number of years,” he said.

“We have had brilliant acts such as Phil Kay, John Maloney, Micky Bartlett and Arthur Smith throughout the years and this year Sara Pascoe and Kevin McAleer are two brilliant bookings for us.

“Sara is a really well known face and a highly respected comic who is all over TV at the minute, while Kevin is maybe a bit more well known with older festival goers and will bring a wealth of experience and laughs to the event.

“We can’t wait for everyone to have sore sides from laughing courtesy of these two stand out stand ups.”

Meanwhile, critically acclaimed filmmaker Brian J. Falconer will also be appearing at the festival.

Falconer is the producer behind the Bafta Award Winning and Academy Award nominated short film ‘Boogaloo and Graham’ and he and fellow filmmakers Michael Lennox and Ronan Blaney have enjoyed incredible success with the film in 2015.

“It was typical,” joked Ross Parkhill, Director of Stendhal Festival of Art, “we get a fantastic result of three wins in the Irish Festival Awards and one of the boys goes and gets a Bafta and an Oscar nomination. We thought we would have bragging rights between the lads as far as awards went for a while, but yeah, Brian was the awards boss this year.”

So with their respective awards in their pockets there was really only one thing to do and this year the award winning filmmaker will be showcasing his award winning film at the award winning Stendhal Festival of art.

“We’ve known Brian for a long time and we were thrilled to bits for him when all the Bafta and Academy Award buzz was happening,” continued Ross.

“The Bafta win and Oscar nomination are two truly amazing accomplishments and everyone involved with Stendhal are absolutely delighted that Brian will be coming along to show the film and to host a talk about it at the festival this year.”

Falconer echoed the sentiments saying that he was looking forward to being a part of the Festival programme this year.

“I was here at Stendhal for year one to support the guys and have been to 3 of the 4 years so far,” said Brian. “So when they got in touch to ask if we would come along and do a special screening of the film we were delighted to oblige.

“I think that it is important for everyone within the arts sector in Northern Ireland to look at any and every opportunity they get to further showcase their work, so while yes the Stendhal boys and have been friends for a long time, even if we weren’t, we would have been very happy to get the call to show the film at a festival of the caliber of Stendhal.”

Since the success of Boogaloo and Graham Brian has been working on two new feature projects and also got married to his beautiful wife Marian.

“Its been a crazy year,” he added, “I have been back and forward to LA a couple of times, been selected to take part in a production mentoring programme, got married, moved house and been chipping away at the day job, so it really has been a busy year so far but it’s been amazing.”

Catch this very special screening of ‘Boogaloo and Graham’ at Stendhal Festival of Art which takes place on August 7 and 8 at Ballymully Cottage Farm, Limavady.