Click here to view the embedded video.

Watch some short films by Irish filmmakers on the Irish Film Board Website.

A favourite of mine is Granny O’Grimm’s Sleeping Beauty. Please watch above. Enjoy

These selections come just a year after a record seven Irish films were selected for last years festival which included Neil Jordan’s Ondine, Triagestarring Colin Farrell and the critically acclaimed Irish documentary Colony.

Commenting on the wide range of Irish films selected for the festival this year Simon Perry, Chief Executive, Bord Scannán na hÉireann/the Irish Film Board said “The Toronto International Film Festival is one of the industry’s most highly regarded festivals. For the Irish industry to have so many films selected is a testament to the health, diversity and quality of Irish filmmaking.  We’re delighted that Irish film continues to garner recognition on the international stage.”

AS IF I AM NOT THERE is the debut feature film by Juanita Wilson who previously wrote and directed the Oscar nominated short The Door.

The Bosnian war drama, adapted from a book by Slavenka Drakulic, follows the story of Samira, a young teacher who finds her life turned on its head the day a young soldier walks uninvited into her kitchen and she is sent to a concentration camp.  It will screen in the Discovery section of the festival.  Produced by James Flynn and Nathalie Lichtenthaler for Octagon Films (Ondine) and Wide Eye Films, the film previously premiered at the Sarajevo International Film Festival.

SENSATION, a darkly comedic story of prostitution, money, love and sensation stars Domhnall Gleeson and was written and directed by Tom Hall.  The film details the relationship between Tipperary farmer Donal Duggan and a veteran Kiwi escort. They begin as client and call girl, evolve into something like lovers, then business partners and finally co-defendants.

Produced by Katie Holly and Kieron J. Walsh for Blinder Films (One Hundred Mornings), it will have its international premiere at Toronto as one of the 45 films selected for the Contemporary World Cinema programme.

Another film also screening in the Contemporary World Cinema programme is LAPLAND ODYSSEY, a co-production between Ireland’s Ripple World Pictures (Dominic Wright and Jacqueline Kerrin), Finland’s Helsinki Filmi Oy and Sweden’s Anagram Produktion Company.   Directed by Dome Karukoski and written by Pekko Pesonen, it is a comedic and romantic road movie about three unemployed young men who set off on a desperate journey to locate a digital conversion box across Lapland.  This screening will be the world premiere of the film.

ESSENTIAL KILLING directed by Jerzy Skolimowski will screen with 12 other films in the Masters section of the festival.  The film is about a Taliban fighter who is captured, interrogated, tortured and then transported to an unnamed snowy destination in Europe. He manages to escape and must use his wits to evade his pursuers whilst battling bitter winter cold and lack of food.

It is an Irish/Polish/Norwegian/Hungarian co-production between Element Pictures (Garage, The Wind That Shakes The Barley), Skopia Film Production, Cylinder Productions and Mythberg Films with Andrew Lowe the executive producer for Element.

These four films will be joining the previously selected Irish feature documentary THE PIPE, directed by Risteard O’Domhnall.  This emotional documentary chronicles local farmers and fishermen who rise up in protest, fearing explosions and environmental hazards, when Shell Oil decide to build a giant high-pressure pipe to transport raw gas through the town of Rossport to an inland refinery. Produced by Rachel Lysaght for Scannaín Inbhear and will screen in the Real to Reel programme of the festival.

The Toronto International Film Festival has become one of the most successful cinematic events in the world, universally regarded as an ideal platform to premiere films and is considered the main film festival in North America. It has previously showcased successful independent films such asJuno, Slumdog Millionaire and Little Miss Sunshine.

The 35^th Toronto International Film Festival will take place from 9^th – 19^thSeptember.

Friday April 23 – 2:30PM – Theatre 2

Saturday April 24 – 6:15PM – Theatre 3

Please follow this link for more information. You can watch the video here.  Hope you enjoy! x

“Watching”, a short film in which I production managed early last year. Starring Ian Hart, Charlie Cattrall & Susannah Fielding.

Synopsis

Josh sits alone in a café, happy watching the world go by. Even if that means denying his longing for the waitress, Annie. But when Carrick walks into his life the scene is set for an opportunity that could change Josh forever. Suddenly the ability to spot where truth lies, and lies begin, will make or break you in this edge-of-your-seat thriller.

CLIP

Click here to view the embedded video.

CAST

Ian Hart

Ian Hart is a highly regarded actor with a varied and distinguished career, having won a best actor award at Venice Film Festival (Nothing Personal) as well as being nominated for a Bafta(Blind Flight).

Charlie Cattrall

Charlie studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Since leaving he has performed in theatres across the UK and Europe, working at The Gate (Big Love), The National Theatre(Faust) and La Mama (Ifigenia), with the likes of Punchdrunk, Gardzienice and Rough Fiction. This is Charlie’s first major short film performance.

He’s played John Lennon in Backbeat, been Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in Finding Neverland and has lent his talents to Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone and The End of the Affair, to name but a few.

Susannah Fielding

Susannah is an up-and-coming actress who has successfully made the leap from the stage to the screen, having been in Wallander alongside Kenneth Branagh, and is set to feature in Noel Clarke’s new film 4.3.2.1.

]]> http://fodhla.com/2010/03/22/watching/feed/ 0 http://fodhla.com/2010/02/26/sir-roger-to-shake-and-stir-on-set-in-cong/ http://fodhla.com/2010/02/26/sir-roger-to-shake-and-stir-on-set-in-cong/#comments Fri, 26 Feb 2010 18:59:55 +0000 fodhla http://www.allartisuseless.com/?p=597 BY CRÓNA ESLER

RESIDENTS in the South Mayo village of Cong will be both shaken and stirred this summer as former Bond legend Sir Roger Moore rolls into town to star in a new movie.

The event will bring back memories of the filming of the legendary movie, The Quiet Man, some 60 years ago. And while life in Cong may have changed dramatically since then, the storyline of the new movie will have more in common with the famous Irish film than one might initially assume.

The new movie – Connemara Days – is a romantic comedy based around the set of The Quiet Man. It tells the story of 18-year-old local girl Heather O’Dea who falls for one of John Ford’s assistant directors. Connemara Days is a gentle love story set against the backdrop of the Hollywood circus arriving in a quiet Irish village and changing lives forever.
 

The movie will see Sir Roger make his first on-screen feature film in almost a decade and he is thrilled to be on board.

“The Quiet Man was undoubtedly the best movie John Ford ever directed. It’s one of my all-time favourite films and the opportunity to revisit the time when Hollywood arrived in Ireland to shoot it was simply just too delicious an opportunity to miss.

“I’m greatly looking forward to stepping in front of the cameras in Cong and to being part of this delightful project,” he said.

Other cast currently in discussions to star alongside Sir Roger include Thomas Dekker (Sarah Connor Chronicles), Aidan Quinn (Jonah Hex, Legends of the Fall), Geraldine Chaplin (The Wolfman), Sarah Bolger (In America, The Spiderwick Chronicles), and Stacy Keach (Escape from LA, American History X). 

But Vue and Odeon are still set to boycott Tim Burton‘s 3D film, because of a dispute with Disney over the release window.

Disney originally wanted to release the film on DVD 12 weeks after the theatrical opening, rather than the industry standard of 17 weeks. After negotiations with exhibitors in recent days, the studio has agreed to stretch the window to 13 weeks, which was enough to persuade Cineworld to sign up.

Alice in Wonderland comes out in the UK on 5 March. Cineworld, which has a 24% share of UK box office, will play the film on over 150 screens.

“As leaders in 3D, we did not want the public to miss out on such a visual spectacle. As the success of Avatar has shown, there is currently a huge appetite for the 3D experience,” said Cineworld’s chief executive Steve Wiener.

Disney says it simply wants the flexibility to release certain movies earlier on DVD in some countries. In the case of Alice in Wonderland, it wants to get the film out on DVD before the World Cup.

Cineworld’s climbdown shocked other exhibitors in the UK and in other European countries where Disney is also trying to shorten the window for Alice in Wonderland. Cinema owners in Belgium, the Netherlands and Italy have declared their intention to boycott the film.

An Odeon spokesperson commented, “As a result of Disney’s insistence on reducing at short notice the theatrical window from 17 weeks to 12 weeks on a major 3D title, regrettably with limited availability of 3D screens we have been left with no viable means of scheduling and promoting Alice In Wonderland.”

One cinema executive said, “Everybody was completely caught off guard by Cineworld. I’ve had calls from the Belgians and the Dutch asking what happened, how could they do this?

“We’re probably not going to play this movie, and it’s really going to hurt us a lot. It would have been one of our biggest movies of the year. Disney talks about wanting flexibility, but if every studio releases two or three films a year this way, that’s 70% of our business, and the only thing that’s certain is that we’re not going to benefit.”

Cineworld is a public company, whereas Odeon and Vue are privately owned. That may have made it harder for Cineworld to take a tough line and sacrifice its likely earnings from Alice In Wonderland.

It named Paul Thomas Anderson’s There Will Be Blood as the best film of the outgoing decade in the organisation’s annual poll. Let the Right One In, the hugely acclaimed Swedish vampire film, was named best film of 2009. 

The 2009 acting awards went to Sean Penn for Milk and, for her role as a troubled artist in Séraphine, the French actress Yolande Moreau.Anvil: The Story of Anvil, a hilarious, tragic film concerning a Canadian heavy metal band’s attempted reinvention, ran away with best documentary of 2009. Kathryn Bigelow’s work on Iraq war drama The Hurt Locker secured her best director of the year. A nod for best breakthrough went to Neill Blomkamp for the science fiction hit District 9. Duncan Jones – David Bowie’s son – received an outstanding achievement gong for his work on making Moon, another science fiction gem, look splendid on a tiny budget.

Established in 2006, The Dublin Film Critics Circle offers the city’s professional movie reviewers an opportunity to pool opinions on recent releases, consider movie heritage and whinge about each other’s shortcomings.

The list of eligible voters is as follows: Tara Brady, Declan Burke, Gavin Burke, George Byrne, Paul Byrne, Ciaran Carty, Donald Clarke, Michael Dwyer, Joe Griffin, Gordon Hayden, Aoife Kelly, Taragh Loughrey Grant, Paul Lynch, John Maguire, Philip Molloy, Esther McCarthy, David O’Mahony, Mike Sheridan, Paul Whitington.

BEST IRISH FILMS OF THE DECADE -

1.    Hunger + Adam And Paul
2.    Garage
3.    Once
4.    Bloody Sunday
5.    Intermission
6.    In America
7.    How Harry Became A Tree
8.    Omagh
9.    Kisses
10.  Isolation

BEST IRISH FILM, 2009

1.    Waveriders
2.    The Yellow Bittern: The Life and Times of Liam Clancy
3.    The Secret of Kells

BEST FILM, 2009

1.    Let the Right One In
2.    The White Ribbon
3.    Up
4.    The Hurt Locker
5.    The Wrestler
6.    Il Divo
7.    A Serious Man
8.    Mesrine Parts 1 & 2
9.    Slumdog Millionaire
10.  District 9 = Moon
11.  Anvil: The Story of Anvil
12.  The Class
13.  Star Trek
14.  Inglourious Basterds
15.  In the Loop
16.  (500) Days of Summer
17.  Synecdoche, New York
18.  Where the Wild Things Are
19.  Frost/Nixon = Milk
20.  Katalyn Varga = Antichrist

BEST DIRECTOR, 2009 

1. Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker
2. Michael Haneke, The White Ribbon
3. Paolo Sorrentino, Il Divo
4. Jean-Francoise Richet, Mesrine Parts 1 & 2
5. Neil Blomkamp, District 9

BEST ACTOR, 2009

1.    Sean Penn, Milk
2.    Mickey Rourke, The Wrestler
3.    Tom Hardy, Bronson
4.    Vincent Cassel, Mesrine Parts 1 & 2
5.    Tom Servillo, Il Divo

BEST ACTRESS, 2009

1.    Yolande Moreau, Séraphine
2.    Lina Leanderson, Let the Right One In
3.    Carey Mulligan, An Education
4.    Isabelle Fuhrman, Orphan
5.    Meryl Streep, Doubt

BEST DOCUMENTARY, 2009 

1.    Anvil: The Story of Anvil
2.    The Cove
3.    Encounters at the End of the World
4.    The Yellow Bittern: The Life and Times of Liam Clancy
5.    Soul Power

BREAKTHROUGH AWARD, 2009 – Neil Blomkamp, District 9

OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT, 2009 – Duncan Jones, Moon

BEST FILMS OF THE DECADE -

1.    There Will Be Blood
2.    Downfall
3.    Brokeback Mountain
4.    The Diving Bell And The Butterfly
5.    The White Ribbon
6.    Hidden
7.    United 93
8.    City Of God
9.    Little Miss Sunshine = In The Mood For Love
10.  Spirited Away = Let The Right One In
11.  Far From Heaven
12.  Pan’s Labyrinth
13.  Sideways = Lost In Translation
14.  The Lives Of Others
15.  Adaptation
16.  Wall-E = Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind = Mulholland Drive
17.  The Best Of Youth
18.  The Dark Knight
19.  Zodiac = Before Sunset = Letters From Iowa Jima = Waltz With Bashir = Irreversible
20.   Together = Infernal Affairs

Garth & Bev

Over 75 people were employed throughout production of the series and financing was provided by RTÉ, the BBC, BBC Worldwide, The Irish Film Board, BCI and the Irish tax incentive schemes, section 481, in conjunction with co-production partners Copernicus Studios.

Sheila DeCourcy, Commissioning Editor, RTÉ Young Peoples says, “Garth & Bev has been a great success. Supporting Irish animators and actors is hugely important to us and we are delighted that we could help Kavaleer in terms of funding and broadcasting.”

Gary Timpson, Managing Director of Kavaleer says, ” Garth & Bev is a fine example of how a great idea can flourish if the support & encouragement is there and we are certainly delighted with the response that the series has received since its launch on RTÉ Two’s The Den. Garth & Bev will commence on Cbeebies early in 2010, and I would like to take this opportunity thank all the cast & crew for a sterling job, keep watching!”  

Andrew Kavanagh, CEO of Kavaleer and Creator of the show added, “It’s great to see a show conceived and set in Ireland winning such great audience figures in the timeslot. It proves that home-grown entertainment can hold its own against internationally syndicated kids shows and I hope to see Garth & Bev screening across the Globe over the coming years.”

The Slamdance Film Festival is in its sixteenth year.  Its main focus is on films by first time directors with low budgets and its lineup of narrative and documentary films are programmed in the spirit of its motto ‘by filmmakers, for filmmakers’.  Previous filmmakers to debut at the festival include Christopher Nolan (The Dark Knight) and Greg Mottola (Superbad).  Steven Soderberg, whose debut feature ‘sex, lies and videotape’ premiered at Slamdance will also premiere his documentary ‘And Everything is Going Fine’ at next years festival which takes place between January 21-28 2010

Starring Ciaran McMenamin, Alex Reid, Rory Keenan and Kelly Campbell, One Hundred Mornings is set in a world upended by a complete breakdown of society where two couples hide out in a lakeside cabin hoping to survive the crisis. As resources run low and external threats increase, they forge an uneasy alliance with their self-sufficient hippie neighbour. With no news from the outside world they can’t know how long they must endure living in such close quarters, and with such limited supplies. Unspoken animosity fills the air, and a suspected affair is driving a wedge between them all.  Poorly equipped to cope in a world without technology and saddled with completely conflicting worldviews, everything begins to disintegrate. Finally, each of them faces a critical decision they never thought they’d have to make.

Screened at this year’s Galway Film Fleadh, it was widely praised with Donald Clarke naming it ‘The finest domestic feature I saw at the Galway Film Fleadh’.  It has received rave reviews from the press with an Irish Times review describing it and ‘both harrowing and humorous’ and ‘beautifully shot in muted, earthy colours’.

One Hundred Mornings is writer/director Conor Horgan’s first feature film, though he previously directed the award-winning short The Last Time, which screened at Cannes, Clermont-Ferrand, and Tampere and was the recipient of seven awards, including the UIP Director Award and Best Irish Short at The Cork Film Festival.

Speaking of the selection Horgan says “I’m delighted that One Hundred Mornings is one of only ten narrative features selected to be shown in competition at Slamdance. It’s an honour to be screened at the festival where many directors I admire have premiered their first feature films.  I’m very much looking forward to the festival and am sure that it will be a great launching pad for our film.”  Producer Katie Holly adds “We’re thrilled with the selection and look forward to the future opportunities this may bring to find an audience for the film world-wide.  It’s a great endorsement of the Catalyst scheme and of the tremendous work of all our cast & crew.”

One Hundred Mornings was produced by Blinder Films under the Catalyst Project with funding from IFB, Filmbase, TV3 and BCI