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Exhibition of Digital and Film Art in Cork – 31 July 2007
Bits & Pieces is a video and film art exhibition that will run from 10th August to 3rd September in and around Macroom Town Hall Gallery as part of the Cork County Council Visual Arts Programme 2007.
The selected digital work includes In Two Minds – Future by Kevin Atherton, RVB by Connolly & Cleary, Mine Are of Trouble by Declan Clarke, Barry’s Day by Laura Gannon, Mullet by Ed Godsell, Idir Trilogy by Chris Hurley, Indigo Colouring You by Sandra Minchin, and With Wind & White Cloud by Dónal Ó'Céilleachair.
During the exhibition there will also be a screening of the film Vajra Sky Over Tibet – a collaboration between US Filmmaker John Bush and New York-based Irish filmmaker Dónal Ó'Céilleachair. The screening will take place on Monday 13th August at 20.30.
The show will be documented by a catalogue including text by the artists and stills from their works.
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Michelangelo Antonioni (1912–2007) – 31 July 2007
It has been announced today that Italian director Michelangelo Antonioni
died last Tuesday aged 94. His slow, spare, visually engaging style made
Antonioni an icon of European cinema in the 1960s.
Antonioni's first internationally successful feature was La Notte (1961),
but he is best remembered in English-speaking countries for his social
critiques, Blowup (1966) and Zabriskie Point (1970).
Antonioni suffered a stroke in 1985 that left him partially paralysed, but
continued to be involved in a number of film projects. His later films
included Beyond the Clouds (1995), co-directed with Wim Wenders, and a
segment for the portmanteau film Eros (2004).
Antonioni's 1975 film The Passenger was re-released to much acclaim in 2005.
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Blind Man's Eye Selected in Venice – 31 July 2007
The Irish short film Blind Man's Eye directed by Matthew Talbot-Kelly has been selected to screen at the internationally renowned 64th Venice Film Festival which takes place from 29th August–8th September 2007. The film, which was produced as part of the Frameworks animation scheme, premiered at the Galway Film Festival last month.
Scripted by Neil Leyden, from an original idea of Talbot-Kelly, the short film is an ambitious and experimental animation piece which creates a digitally generated world representing the inner spiritual universe of a blind man.
Before returning from Canada to Ireland in 2005, director Talbot-Kelly was a digital supervisor on the academy-award nominated feature I, Robot, a senior compositor for the Emmy award-winning TV series Rome, and a long term visual effects contributor to the popular TV series Stargate. Working as an independent digital artist, animator and designer, his more recent Irish film and TV work includes matte paintings and visual effects for the features Fido and Slither, the new TG4 station idents, graphic openings for the RTÉ programmes Dustin's Daily News, Premiership Football and Questions & Answers, and commercials for Bank of Ireland, Aer Lingus, and the Irish Independent.
The short film was produced by Michael Algar for Glimpse Digital under the Frameworks schemed funded by Bord Scannán na hÉireann/the Irish Film Board, RTÉ and the Arts Council. The scheme aims to develop new talent and skills in this area. Major successes from this scheme include Give up your Aul Sins, produced by Brown Bag Films in 2001 which was nominated for an Oscar in the Best Animated Short Film category.
You can see Blind Man's Eye film trailer here.
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Ingmar Bergman (1918–2007) – 30 July 2007
Ingmar Bergman, hailed as one of the greatest filmmakers of his generation,
has died at the age of 89. Over a career that spanned six decades, Bergman
wrote and directed over sixty films of various lengths, including Persona,
The Seventh Seal, The Virgin Spring, Fanny and Alexander, and Wild
Strawberries.
Bergman's work is characterised by its profundity; his films often deal with
existential questions. As a director, Bergman was noted for his engagement
with his performers; he worked repeatedly with actors such as Max von Sydow,
Bibi Andersson, and later Liv Ullmann, and – particularly in later years –
encouraged improvisation from his cast.
Bergman's final film was Saraband (2003), an unofficial sequel to 1973's
Scenes from a Marriage.
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Toys on Film Weekend at the IFI – 25 July 2007
The IFI Toys on Film weekend takes places on Saturday 28th and Sunday 29th July. Running in collaboration with the Ark Toys Summer programme, the IFI Toys on Film Weekend is a must for anyone who wants to see films about Toys or learn about toys that inspired early filmmakers.
The diverse weekend programme includes workshops with Irish animators, Delicious 9, shadow puppet making classes with Elaine Yap and Margot Jones. There are family screenings of the timeless classic March of the Wooden Soldiers and both of the unmissable Toy Story films.
We are also delighted to welcome Sesame Street filmmaker Eva Saks to show her favorite short films and talk about her job.
Children and parents alike will also get the chance to see some of Ireland’s most cutting-edge animators and computer gamesters at work throughout the weekend. They will also get a chance to participate in a debate on the merits or otherwise of Toys.
All ‘Toys on Film’ events will take place in the Irish Film Institute, 6 Eustace Street, D2.
Toys on Film is part of The Ark’s larger TOYS! event which runs throughout the summer, and features a wonderful workshops, exhibitions, toy-making classes and much more. The Ark is Europe’s first custom-built European Cultural Centre, which promotes and hosts high quality cultural work which is by children, for children and about children.
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The Tudors Picks Up Three Emmy Nominations – 20 July 2007
Four members of the Irish film and television industry have received Emmy nominations for their work on the first series of the hit TV series The Tudors which filmed on location in Ireland last year. Production Designer Tom Conroy has been nominated for Outstanding Art Direction for a Single-camera Series prize, Nuala and Frank Moiselle have been nominated for Outstanding Casting for a Drama Series, and Joan Bergin has been nominated in the Best Costume category. Jessica O’Leary and Ger Scully who assisted in the costume department for The Tudors were also mentioned in this nomination.
Bergin’s credits include Irish films In the Name of the Father, The Boxer, Agnes Browne and recent credits include The Prestige starring Christian Bale and Hugh Jackman. Conroy equally has a long list of credits including Irish films Intermission, Breakfast on Pluto and Inside I’m Dancing.
The Moiselles have also worked on a wide range of Irish films and projects that filmed on location in Ireland including How about You, Veronica Guerin, and Goldfish Memory.
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John Carney Gets US Deal with Fox – 20 July 2007
Irish filmmaker John Carney continues his international success as it is announced that he is set to direct Town House written by Doug Wright in January 2008 for Fox 2000. His modern-day musical Once, which is currently being distributed by Fox in North America, continues to wow US audiences with total US box office to date soaring to $5,082,298.
With positive press coverage and increasing box office receipts this Irish film is has made a hue impact with US audiences. Written and directed by John Carney and produced by Martina Niland and David Collins with finance from Bord Scannán na hÉireann/the Irish Film Board, ONCE is a modern-day musical set on the streets of Dublin which tells the story of a busker (Glen Hansard) and an immigrant (Marketa Irglova), who fall in love over an eventful week, as they write and record a number of songs.
The comedy Town House is set to shoot in 2008 in the US and tells the tale of the son of a dead rock legend who survives by selling off his father’s memorabilia. When he has nothing left to sell he is forced finally to sell the townhouse his father left. The imminent sale forces him to come to terms with himself and his own role as a father.
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Wicklow Young Filmmakers Bursaries – 20 July 2007
Wicklow County Arts Office in association with County Wicklow Film Commission and Wicklow Rural Partnership are looking for young filmmakers born or residing in County Wicklow to submit short films for the Wicklow Young Filmmakers bursaries. These bursaries have been developed by Wicklow County Arts Office and is the first time that these bursaries will be awarded.
The competition is open to young or emerging filmmakers aged between 18 and 25, working in any genre for example, animation, documentary, experimental etc… Submitted shorts should be duration of between 3 and 20 minutes, and will only be accepted in DVD format. A total of €2750 will be awarded as part of these bursaries in a number of different categories. Deadline for receipt of submissions is Friday 3rd August 2007.
Films will be short-listed and the winner will be announced in the Courthouse Arts Centre, Tinahely in an awards ceremony on Saturday 2nd September 2007.
For an application, or for further information contact:
Wicklow County Arts Office, County Buildings, Station road, Wicklow Town.
Phone 0404 20155 or email wao@wicklowcoco.ie
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New IFB Producer Recoupment Policy – 5 July 2007
Bord Scannán na hÉireann/the Irish Film Board (IFB) have announced the introduction of new arrangements for Recoupment, which will enable producers to share in revenues from their film or television project, while the IFB is still recouping its investment.
This means that Irish production companies will now share in the IFB’s own revenues, so that part of what would normally flow to BSÉ/IFB towards its own Recoupment, flows to the producer instead.
A single approach is applied to all types of film, i.e. features, documentaries, animation and television drama, and all types of production and co-production, resulting in one basic principle which obtains for all deals with the IFB – albeit with variations in a small number of particular cases.
The producer of a film or television project in which the IFB invests is now entitled to an internal corridor of 50% subject to certain exceptions. In effect, half of the money invested by the IFB is considered as money invested by the producer. The IFB is deemed to have recouped when it has earned back half of its investment, the other half having been received by the producer.
The internal corridor will not apply to net profits.
This incentive is available to all film and television projects in receipt of IFB production funding subject to certain exceptions (for example regional support funding, television documentaries and short films).
The Producer Recoupment arrangements set out in the Producer Recoupment Guidelines become effective on 1st July 2007. Films and television projects where financing contracts with the IFB were entered into before that date will not benefit from the arrangements. For more details information on how this will work please read the Producer Recoupment Guidelines on the Irish Film Board website.
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Wardrop's Farewell Packets of Ten Awarded in Toronto – 3 July 2007
Venom Film has received a prestigious award at the Worldwide Short Film
Festival in Toronto, Canada for Director Ken Wardrop’s comically confessional
Farewell Packets of Ten. Originally commissioned by Channel Four Television
the film won the Best Documentary Short Award.
The Worldwide Shorts Film Festival is now in its 13th year and is the leading
venue for the exhibition and promotion of short film in North America.
Officially accredited to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, it is
considered one of the premier short film festivals in the world.
In Farewell Packets of Ten two older ladies banter over the pros and cons of
their addiction to cigarettes and lament the government’s decision to phase out
the packet of ten. Shot over one day, the film all takes place at the end of a
kitchen table. This is one of a new series of shorts by Venom Film that includes
Scoring and Tongue Tied which have been screening at festivals worldwide.
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John Cassavetes Retrospective at the IFI – 29 June 2007
The Irish Film Institute presents John Cassavetes: A Retrospective from 1–29 July 2007. Regarded as the pioneer of American Cinema Verité, Cassavetes was arguably, America's first truly independent filmmaker, an iconoclastic maverick whose movies challenged the assumptions of the cinematic form.
The retrospective will contain all Cassavetes major works as a director, highlighting him as one of America’s greatest filmmakers, showing him at the peak of his powers. Throughout the retrospective it is also possible to see him refining and maturing his style and while his later style may feel less raw than his earlier movies, they provide the viewer with a penetrating insight into the human psyche. The sheer brilliance of all Cassavetes film’s remain unchallenged to this day.
For full programme see www.irishfilm.ie
You can read Michael Open's overview of Cassavetes's career in the upcoming July/August issue of Film Ireland magazine.
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New Media Factory Summer Courses
– 19 June 2007
The New Media Factory is an initiative aimed at providing free training and support for individuals interested in a career in the TV, film and digital content industry. Participants can choose between courses in Make-up, Wardrobe, Camera and Lighting, Sound, Assistant Direction, Art Direction, Scriptwriting and Acting for Camera. The courses will run during the summer and will last between 3 and 5 days. No previous experience is required and individuals living in the East border region of Antrim, Armagh, Down, Louth, Meath and Monaghan are invited to apply.
The New Media Factory is a cross-border agency run through the Dundalk Institute of Technology, the Louth, Newry & Mourne Film Commission and the University of Ulster. The project is funded in the amount of €262,133 through the EU Interreg IIIA Programme, which is managed for the Special EU Programmes Body by the East Border Region Interreg IIIA Partnership.
Visit www.thebrightroom.com to apply to the project. Call 042 935 4214 or email David.Tiernan@dkit.ie for further information
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Brendan Bowyer to Attend Archive Screening at the IFI
– 19 June 2007
The Irish Film Archive are presenting The One-Nighters on Wednesday 27th June at 6.15pm at the Irish Film Institute. The screening will be followed by a talk and a song or two by showband legend Brendan Bowyer.
A senior floorman at RTÉ – Peter Collinson – who went on to direct Up the Junction and The Italian Job – was making a TV commercial for the Royal Showband in 1963 with cameraman Robert Monks. Midway through the shoot Collinson persuaded the band that they should commission a full-scale documentary for the cinema. The result is an affectionate and informal record of the adventures of the Royal Showband, and ‘Ireland’s Elvis’ Brendan Bowyer, on the road. It was an extraordinary time: the band’s talent and energy quite simply took the country by storm, playing to a public that had suddenly awakened from the drabness of the '50s and begun dancing.
The Royal Showband’s version of The Hucklebuck defined Ireland’s swinging sixties. In dancehalls all over the country, young and old alike were ‘wriggling like snakes and waddling like ducks’ to one of the biggest dance tunes of the decade. The Royal were the most popular group of the Showband era with a mass of Number One hits as yet unsurpassed in Ireland. Much of their success was due to their front man Brendan Bowyer, and his ability to tailor American rock 'n' roll music for the Irish ear, and deliver it with spirited athleticism. In 1971 Bowyer left the Royal, joining the Las Vegas circuit with his new band, the Big 8.
Advance Booking: Credit Card bookings taken between 1:30pm and 7:30pm on (01) 679 3477 or online at www.irishfilm.ie
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Cash Prize of €5,000 at the Kerry Film Festival – 18 June 2007
The Samhlaiocht Kerry Film Festival, which is celebrating eight years of bringing film to the people of Kerry, has issued a call for entries for the Kerry Film Festival 2007, which runs from 27th October to 3rd November.
While the main focus of the festival has traditionally been on short film this year sees an expansion of the programme. Artistic Director Jason O’ Mahony, who has worked with Robert Redford’s Sundance Film Festival and the San Francisco Film Festival plans to develop the Kerry Film Festival by increasing the number of features screened and offering an enlarged workshop programme. The festival will be offering a cash prize of €5,000 to the overall Best Director winner.
‘It’s early days yet in the planning of this festival but already we have a stellar workshop programme lined up’, says O’ Mahony. ‘Paul Mercier has agreed to give a masterclass in directing, while we have the Cork Film Centre on board to ensure we have an amazing offering of workshops and masterclasses.’
Gunther Berkus is lined up to teach a masterclass in Cinema 4D. The Cork Film Centre will also sponsor a cash prize of €500 to be awarded to the winner in the Best Animated Short category.
For more information on the Samhlaiocht Kerry Film Festival or to download application forms please log on to www.kerryfilmfestival.com
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How Is Your Fish Today? Q&A Screening with Xiaolu Guo – 13 June 2007
Chinese author and director Xiaolu Guo will introduce her award-winning film How Is Your Fish Today? and afterwards answer questions from the audience at the IFI, Temple Bar. Xiaolu Guo is a special guest of this year’s Dublin Writers Festival.
How Is Your Fish Today? began life as a British Commissioned Chinese documentary about Mohe, a small village in Northern China lying on the Russian border. However, when the crew reached Mohe, a supposedly mystical town where it’s light 20 hours out of the day and the aurora borealis sweeps across the sky, they discovered that it is nothing but a poor fishing village where people live just above the poverty line.
Rather than abandon the film due to lack of footage, director Gou combined what she had filmed with a script written by a friend about a screenwriter searching for inspiration by travelling to Mohe. The result: a film that confidently occupies the shadow land between fiction and reality as Guo combines an innovative narrative with beautiful imagery and some gritty truths about modern China.
The film will be screened on Saturday, 16th June, at 2pm in the IFI Cinemas (6 Eustace St, Dublin 2). For more information see www.irishfilm.ie
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