Channel 4 acquires the Rights to 23 Irish Short Films
The rights of 23 Irish short films have been bought by Channel 4 in a deal that saw the station acquiring rights to a total of 37 short films from around the world.
The Irish shorts acquired include five shorts produced through the Short Shorts scheme (No, No, No, Atlantic, Whatever Turns You On, Enough, Shapes), one Framework short (A Film From My Parish - Six Farms) and three shorts directed by Ken Wardrop (The Herd, Undressing My Mother, Farewell Packets of Ten) all of which received funding from Bord Scannán na hÉireann/ the Irish Film Board.
Conor Ferguson's award-winning ATLANTIC stars Liam Cunningham and was produced by AnneMarie Naughton for Park Films while Bill Tyson's WHATEVER TURNS YOU ON produced by Timesnap Limited is a humorous but poignant story of the need to belong. Both of which have had much international festival success.
NO,NO,NO directed by Stephen Bradley, Alan Brennan's frightening short SHAPES and Barry Dignam's ENOUGH are other Short Shorts to have been acquired.
Also bought by Channel 4 is A FILM FROM MY PARISH - SIX FARMS, an animated-photographic study of one parish in County Tipperary. Written and directed by Tony O'Donoghue and produced by Mayfly Films, it has previously screened at many international film festivals including the prestigious Sundance Film Festival. It was produced as part of the Frameworks scheme which is co-financed by the IFB, RTÉ and the Arts Council.
Ken Wardrop's award winning THE HERD, UNDRESSING MY MOTHER and FAREWELL PACKETS OF TEN have also been picked. Produced by Andrew Freedman and Venom Films, these shorts have been hugely successful on an international level picking up awards from the Expression En Corte International Film Festival in Mexico to the Prix UIP at Sarajevo Film Festival. Venom Film's debut feature film His and Hers recently scooped the Excellence in Cinematography Award at the Sundance Film Festival and the Best Documentary IFTA.