Now We Are Ten

With a retrospective of features and a commemorative book of stills, Bórd Scánnán na hÉireann / The Irish Film Board are celebrating their tenth anniversary. Lir Mac Cárthaigh cuts the cake.

It's easy to get sidetracked when talking about the Irish Film Board. The issues and arguments which have been synonymous with Irish film production in recent years are often difficult to disentangle from both the films themselves and their state sponsor. Film Board-bashing is a sport too easily engaged in. Whether we agree or disagree with the way the Board discharge their various remits, the fact remains that a large proportion of Irish films would have failed or floundered without support at some level from the Board. The Irish film community is small and aggressive. Too often the Board's failures are met with scorn and their successes with begrudgery. Posterity, however, is less interested in arguments than in results. Seventy-six results were presented in the recent retrospective 'New Irish Cinema, 1993-2003'.

The full article is printed in Film Ireland 93