Warterville in Co.Kerry has unveiled plans for an annual comedy film festival next August, dedicated to the memory of Charlie Chaplin.

Charlie Chaplin, one of the history's most iconic comedians, spent every summer in the seaside town of Waterville with his family, for almost 40 years.

During his annual vacations the comedian was a regular at the Butler Arms Hotel. Lousie Huggard, who is the fifth generation of her family to run the hotel said her parents, Peter and Mary have fond memories of Chaplain.

"They always said he was lovely. He got involved with the other guests and the reason why he kept on coming back was because he always felt he got away from everything," Ms Huggard told the Irish Independent.

 "A lot of people in the village would still remember him and his family and two of his daughters, Josephine and Annie, both have houses in the area and visit regularly," she added.

The Charlie Chaplain  Comedy Film Festival will run from August 25th to 28th in Waterville with the help of the Chaplain family.

Filmmaker Julien Ronet, who is Chaplain's grandson, said that the film festival has been a dream of the family for years.

"My mother told me Waterville was one of the few places where my grandfather could enjoy total anonymity. He could walk down the street there without people constantly coming up to him looking for autographs -- it was the one place he could truly relax.

"There is this great story about a fishing trip he was once on. My grandfather grew so tired of not catching anything that he decided to go to the fish shop in Cahirciveen to buy loads of fish, which he then pretended to have caught."

Filmmakers are now being invited to submit short films for the festival and a number of high profile directors have been invited to the event.