Interesting selection of new Irish shorts being shown at the Cork Film Festival in a few weeks. They will all compete for the relevant Irish short film awards. Good to see some experienced film-makers represented in the Irish Shorts section.
Irish documentaries being featured in the Documentary Panorama are listed after the shorts.
I note - and this is not a comment on the selection process - that of the 61 titles listed below just 12 have female directors, one of whom has two titles to her name. I wonder if this is a higher or lower ratio (approx. 5 male to 1 female) than the overall male to female ratio among entrants?
Cork Film Festival November 7-14
Irish Short Films - Final Selection
‘Made In Cork’
Becoming Unsticky / Dir. Michael Gurhy
Channel / Dir. Éanna de Buis
Cheaters / Dir. John Horan
Ger O’Halloran’s True Stories / Dir. Rob O’Halloran
Greyhound Track / Dir. Mike Hannon
Heart / Dir. Mark Cogan
Hungry Hickory / Dir. Damian McCarthy
The Influences Of Feminism On Traditional French Cooking / Dir. Christina Utzeri
Kettle/ Dir. Brian Power
Letting Mr. Blue Sky In! / Dir. Daniel O’Connell
Locked Groove / Dir. Michael Daly
Peace Park / Dir. Chris Cullen
Public Office / Dir. Brian Finucane
Silentgirl / Dir. Ryan O’Connel & Reece O’Connell
Two Weeks in Nairobi / Dir. Jackie Boland
Irish Shorts
Admit One / Dir. Steve Woods
Confesssions/ Dir. Donnacha Coffey
Crossword / Dir. Vincent Gallagher
A Diamond Forms Under Pressure / Dir. Paul O’Donoghue
Bleeding Love / Dir. Ged Murray
Dolls House / Dir. Vinny Murphy
Dún Chaoin / Dir. Lanka Haouche Perren
The External World / Dir. David O’Reilly*
Getting Air / Dir. Mark Noonan
Girls / Dir. Maureen O’Connell
Happy Birthday Timmy! / Dir. Johnny Cullen
Hoodie / Dir. Patrick Finnegan
‘I Hate Musicals!’ – The Musical / Dir. Michael Lavelle
The Incredible Shrinking Office / Dir. Stephen Kane
I Shagged Ronaldo! Dir / Rita-Marie Lawlor
Love At The End of the World / Dir. Oonagh Kearney
The Meaning of Lifeguard / Dir. Dylan Cotter
Mister Heaney / A Wee Portrait / Dir. David Quin
Neighbourhood Watch / Dir. Eamon Little
Noreen / Dir. Domhnall Gleeson
Passing / Dir. David Freyne
The Pool / Dir. Thomas Hefferon
Repeat / Dir. Donal Foreman
Return to Roscoff / Dir. Ken Wardrop*
Rianto Twirlers / Dir. Anne Maree Barry
Rickshaw Rick / Dir. Robert Manson
Sin È / Dir. Sean Branigan
S (KIN) / Dir. Luke Daly
Small Change / Dir. Cathy Brady*
This Monkey / Dir. Patrick Jolley
The Trembling Veil Of Bones / Dir. Matthew Talbot-Kelly*
Woodkarne / Dir. Brendan Culleton
Irish Film Board short schemes premiering at the festival
Signatures
The Christening / Dir. Oonagh Kearney
Crossing Salween / Dir. Brian O’Malley
Pentecost / Dir. Peter McDonald
Shoe / Dir. Nick Kelly
Reality Bites
Blue Rinse / Dir. Matt Leigh
Collaboration Horizontale / Dir. Ciaran Cassidy
Hearing Silence / Dir. Hilary Fennell
Needle Exchange / Dir. Colm Quinn*
*Titles also accepted in the International Shorts Competition
Irish Documentaries
Dreaming The Quiet Man / Dir. Sé Merry Doyle
In Sunshine Or In Shadow / Dir. Andrew Gallimore
Neither Fish Nor Fowl / Dir. Fiona Murphy
The Pipe / Dir. Risteard O’Domhnaill
What We Leave In Our Wake / Dir. Pat Collins
Who Is Dervla Murphy? / Dir. Garret Daly
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Friday, October 8, 2010
Thoroughly Modern...
An interesting collaboration is taking place between the Irish Film Institute and the Irish Museum of Modern Art. 'The Moderns: Cinema and Ireland' will be a strand in IMMA’s major autumn exhibition 'The Moderns'. I'm sure it won't be quite as reverential as the similarly titled Alan Rudolph film.
A special season of screenings, each with an accompanying discussion, will celebrate the development of Irish Cinema and examine a range of perspectives that deal "not only with work from key Modernist figures such as Samuel Beckett but also issues of national identity, censorship, exhibition and the creation of a fully-fledged Irish film culture."
The Moderns: Cinema and Ireland
Schedule
21st October 17.50
Samuel Beckett’s Film
(Directed by Alan Schneider)
Followed by a discussion with Dr. Rodney Sharkey
1st November 18.45
Man of Aran
Robert Flaherty
Followed by a discussion with Dr. Harvey O’Brien and Enrique Juncosa, Director of IMMA
8th November 18.30
Battleship Potemkin
Sergei Eisenstein
Followed by a discussion about the role of film societies in Ireland
13th November 12.00
‘First Wave’ Irish Film-making
Screenings and discussions (including Bob Quinn's Caoineadh Art Ui Laoghaire and Thaddeus O'Sullivan's Flanagan).
Tickets are available now for the first two screenings online at www.ifi.ie
Booking will become available for the second two screenings later in the month.
A special season of screenings, each with an accompanying discussion, will celebrate the development of Irish Cinema and examine a range of perspectives that deal "not only with work from key Modernist figures such as Samuel Beckett but also issues of national identity, censorship, exhibition and the creation of a fully-fledged Irish film culture."
The Moderns: Cinema and Ireland
Schedule
21st October 17.50
Samuel Beckett’s Film
(Directed by Alan Schneider)
Followed by a discussion with Dr. Rodney Sharkey
1st November 18.45
Man of Aran
Robert Flaherty
Followed by a discussion with Dr. Harvey O’Brien and Enrique Juncosa, Director of IMMA
8th November 18.30
Battleship Potemkin
Sergei Eisenstein
Followed by a discussion about the role of film societies in Ireland
13th November 12.00
‘First Wave’ Irish Film-making
Screenings and discussions (including Bob Quinn's Caoineadh Art Ui Laoghaire and Thaddeus O'Sullivan's Flanagan).
Tickets are available now for the first two screenings online at www.ifi.ie
Booking will become available for the second two screenings later in the month.
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Work in Progress...
In a post at the beginning of the month (here) I said I would write a post about multiple offers to individuals/companies in the same Irish Film Board funding rounds and take a look at the perception that Board members are somehow connected with an undue proportion of projects funded by the agency.
Well, I'm beginning to wish I hadn't because it's turned into an excel file that looks very like a minefield. There are more questions than answers.
If you've been around this business long enough in what is, after all, a very small country, you will know many of the personal and professional connections between people. But one-time joint directors of a company may no longer be on speaking terms. A former producing-directing partnership may have irreconcilable differences.
And, even if there is a connection, direct or indirect between individuals or between individuals and companies and any state funding agency, one cannot necessarily infer that the connection constitutes what might be termed an 'interest'.
It would be useful to know how the IFB defines such an 'interest'.
And again, when it comes to the disbursement of public funding, an offer of a development or production loan does not in itself mean that the money has been given over.
Might it mean, however, that other applications were turned down or not considered because scarce resources were already committed?
And what of those circumstances where loans are provided to projects submitted by third-party companies that then hire companies or individuals who, being paid subsequently for work or services, might be perceived to have benefited, indirectly, from decisions they had a part in? Might that be construed as an 'interest'?
It may be that this is just a matter of perception. Let's see what is on the record. Here is the relevant passage from the Irish Film Board's latest annual report (for 2008):
Board Members - Disclosure of Transactions
In the normal course of business the Irish Film Board may approve assistance to film projects and enter into other contractual arrangements with undertakings in which Board Members are employed or otherwise interested. The Irish Film Board has adopted procedures in relation to the disclosures of interests by Board members and these procedures were adhered to during the year. In 2008 the following loans were approved in which a Board Member was employed or had an interest:
Lesley McKimm Newgrange Pictures
Happy Ever Afters (Production) 250,000. Newgrange Pictures also received three unquantified offers of assistance for the production of Stella Days (Feature Film), Killing Time (Documentary) and Population (Documentary) in 2008.
James Morris Treasure Entertainment
The Eclipse (Production) 850,000
Tristan Orpen Lynch Subotica Entertainment
La Mula (Production) 500,000, Advance Party (Development) 15,000, An Evening of Long Goodbyes (Development) 25,000, Bernadette (Development) 30,000, Tillsonburg (Development) 21,000, Unless (Development) 25,000
Kirsten Sheridan Blindside Films
Some Rain Must Fall (Development) 20,000
Total €1,736,000
1. The actual loan figure given for Happy Ever Afters in the accounts is €1,000,000, perhaps €750,000 was committed in 2007? Also 197,500 is credited to Newgrange in the accounts under the Multiple Project Development scheme, perhaps the decision predates the appointment of the then Board, or the full value of the MPD scheme was accounted for in an earlier report?
2. A further €325,919 for Treasure Entertainment is in the accounts under the Multiple Project Development scheme, perhaps the decision predates the appointment of the then Board, or the full value of the MPD scheme was accounted for in an earlier report?
3. It is stated in the report, inter alia that the IFB will pay "serious attention" to submissions or applications where, "the amount of BSÉ/IFB’s investment corresponds to the level of involvement of Irish personnel, elements and facilities in the project." Should we presume that members of the Board absent themselves from decisions regarding projects which result in the hiring of "personnel, elements and facilities" with which they may be associated? Would the particular involvement of Irish personnel, elements and facilities be known at the time a project is submitted?
4. In 2008 the IFB had just over four production loan applications for feature films per month (51), of which about half were successful.
5. Approximately 60 fiction development loan applications were successful in 2008, giving a 'success' rate of about 25%.
6. How does the IFB provide financially for "unquantified offers of assistance"?
7. If the total quoted above - €1,736,000 - is accurate, what percentage does it represent of total production and development loans in 2008? Is that percentage higher or lower than in previous years, and how do 2009 and 2010 compare?
8. Should a funded production run into difficulties, may any Board members associated with the project be involved in decisions concerning that project?
Well, I'm beginning to wish I hadn't because it's turned into an excel file that looks very like a minefield. There are more questions than answers.
If you've been around this business long enough in what is, after all, a very small country, you will know many of the personal and professional connections between people. But one-time joint directors of a company may no longer be on speaking terms. A former producing-directing partnership may have irreconcilable differences.
And, even if there is a connection, direct or indirect between individuals or between individuals and companies and any state funding agency, one cannot necessarily infer that the connection constitutes what might be termed an 'interest'.
It would be useful to know how the IFB defines such an 'interest'.
And again, when it comes to the disbursement of public funding, an offer of a development or production loan does not in itself mean that the money has been given over.
Might it mean, however, that other applications were turned down or not considered because scarce resources were already committed?
And what of those circumstances where loans are provided to projects submitted by third-party companies that then hire companies or individuals who, being paid subsequently for work or services, might be perceived to have benefited, indirectly, from decisions they had a part in? Might that be construed as an 'interest'?
It may be that this is just a matter of perception. Let's see what is on the record. Here is the relevant passage from the Irish Film Board's latest annual report (for 2008):
Board Members - Disclosure of Transactions
In the normal course of business the Irish Film Board may approve assistance to film projects and enter into other contractual arrangements with undertakings in which Board Members are employed or otherwise interested. The Irish Film Board has adopted procedures in relation to the disclosures of interests by Board members and these procedures were adhered to during the year. In 2008 the following loans were approved in which a Board Member was employed or had an interest:
Lesley McKimm Newgrange Pictures
Happy Ever Afters (Production) 250,000. Newgrange Pictures also received three unquantified offers of assistance for the production of Stella Days (Feature Film), Killing Time (Documentary) and Population (Documentary) in 2008.
James Morris Treasure Entertainment
The Eclipse (Production) 850,000
Tristan Orpen Lynch Subotica Entertainment
La Mula (Production) 500,000, Advance Party (Development) 15,000, An Evening of Long Goodbyes (Development) 25,000, Bernadette (Development) 30,000, Tillsonburg (Development) 21,000, Unless (Development) 25,000
Kirsten Sheridan Blindside Films
Some Rain Must Fall (Development) 20,000
Total €1,736,000
1. The actual loan figure given for Happy Ever Afters in the accounts is €1,000,000, perhaps €750,000 was committed in 2007? Also 197,500 is credited to Newgrange in the accounts under the Multiple Project Development scheme, perhaps the decision predates the appointment of the then Board, or the full value of the MPD scheme was accounted for in an earlier report?
2. A further €325,919 for Treasure Entertainment is in the accounts under the Multiple Project Development scheme, perhaps the decision predates the appointment of the then Board, or the full value of the MPD scheme was accounted for in an earlier report?
3. It is stated in the report, inter alia that the IFB will pay "serious attention" to submissions or applications where, "the amount of BSÉ/IFB’s investment corresponds to the level of involvement of Irish personnel, elements and facilities in the project." Should we presume that members of the Board absent themselves from decisions regarding projects which result in the hiring of "personnel, elements and facilities" with which they may be associated? Would the particular involvement of Irish personnel, elements and facilities be known at the time a project is submitted?
4. In 2008 the IFB had just over four production loan applications for feature films per month (51), of which about half were successful.
5. Approximately 60 fiction development loan applications were successful in 2008, giving a 'success' rate of about 25%.
6. How does the IFB provide financially for "unquantified offers of assistance"?
7. If the total quoted above - €1,736,000 - is accurate, what percentage does it represent of total production and development loans in 2008? Is that percentage higher or lower than in previous years, and how do 2009 and 2010 compare?
8. Should a funded production run into difficulties, may any Board members associated with the project be involved in decisions concerning that project?
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
'Reel Art' 2010
I missed the details of this year's Reel Art documentary scheme when it was first announced so, in case anyone else missed it you can find the info on the Reel Art website here.
Over the last couple of years the scheme has resulted in a number of very interesting documentary projects. Reel Art intentionally affords a high degree of creative freedom to the film-maker, helped by the fact that the documentaries are intended for the big screen rather than television.
The closing date for applications is October 18, 2010.
Over the last couple of years the scheme has resulted in a number of very interesting documentary projects. Reel Art intentionally affords a high degree of creative freedom to the film-maker, helped by the fact that the documentaries are intended for the big screen rather than television.
The closing date for applications is October 18, 2010.
IFB hires Deloitte
In a repeat of the process that selected Simon Perry as new CEO in 2005, the Irish Film Board is going through Deloitte Executive Selection to find a replacement who will take up the reins on January 1st, 2011.
This is good news because there was a possibility that the public service recruitment ban might have been applied. This has resulted, for instance, in the loss of frontline nursing services for the elderly in this part of the world.
If you are interested in the CEO position at the IFB you should forward a CV in confidence to Mark O’Donnell, Director, Executive Selection, Deloitte, Earlsfort Terrace, Dublin 2, Ireland. (Tel: +353 1 417 2580 Email: maodonnell@deloitte.ie). The closing date for applications is Friday, 8th October.
The person being sought will have strong people management, negotiation and financial management skills; will require proven experience and qualifications to ensure the ongoing progress and development of a distinct and creatively led Irish Film Making sector; [and] will also be expected to oversee the implementation of policies to develop the broader Film and Television production industry.
Salary is not mentioned but I believe it is currently in the region of €110,000pa (contingent on increments, payment of a 2.5% public service pay increase, and recent salary reductions in the public service).
There is also a 20% performance 'package', plus an Accommodation Allowance. The latter allowance is not that common in the public service and may only apply because the agency is split between its HQ in Galway and its Dublin offices where many of the 16 staff are based full-time.
This is good news because there was a possibility that the public service recruitment ban might have been applied. This has resulted, for instance, in the loss of frontline nursing services for the elderly in this part of the world.
If you are interested in the CEO position at the IFB you should forward a CV in confidence to Mark O’Donnell, Director, Executive Selection, Deloitte, Earlsfort Terrace, Dublin 2, Ireland. (Tel: +353 1 417 2580 Email: maodonnell@deloitte.ie). The closing date for applications is Friday, 8th October.
The person being sought will have strong people management, negotiation and financial management skills; will require proven experience and qualifications to ensure the ongoing progress and development of a distinct and creatively led Irish Film Making sector; [and] will also be expected to oversee the implementation of policies to develop the broader Film and Television production industry.
Salary is not mentioned but I believe it is currently in the region of €110,000pa (contingent on increments, payment of a 2.5% public service pay increase, and recent salary reductions in the public service).
There is also a 20% performance 'package', plus an Accommodation Allowance. The latter allowance is not that common in the public service and may only apply because the agency is split between its HQ in Galway and its Dublin offices where many of the 16 staff are based full-time.
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