Four Irish Animations Selected for Cartoons on the Bay Festival in Italy
The Irish animated TV series Garth & Bev along with the short films Hasan Everywhere, Donkey and Granny O'Grimm's Sleeping Beauty, have all been officially selected for the prestigious Cartoons on the Bay Festival to be held this week in Rapallo, Italy.
Garth & Bev, directed by Stuart Shankly, has been nominated in the TV series for Pre-school category. The series follows two kids who live back in the Bronze Age, but with a little magical help from their druid grandfather Lir, they can travel anywhere in time. The series first premiered on RTÉ2 and is currently enjoying its second screening on the BBC's Cbeebies.
Produced by Gary Timpson and Paul Rigg for Kavaleer Productions, it was co-financed by the IFB, BCI, RTÉ, BBC Worldwide and BBC.
Hasan Everywhere, directed by Andrew Kavanagh and produced by Kavaleer Productions, is nominated for the Best Educational & Issues Film. It explores the story of an Israeli novelist and a Palestinian artist, who strike up a friendship during a freezing New York winter. A passionate friendship which was impossible at home on their neighbouring crescent but flourished abroad. The nomination follows two Digital Media Award wins and an IFTA nomination earlier this year.
Louise Bagnall's Donkey tells the story of a donkey who is sick of his minimum wage job at the beach. Produced by Niamh O'Donoghue for Barley Films it has previously screened at a host of international festivals including the Sichuan TV Festival in China and Cairo International Film Festival for Children in Egypt and is set to screen at Oberhausen International Short Film Festival in Germany next month.
The hugely successful Granny O'Grimm's Sleeping Beauty will be competing for the Short Film award at Cartoons on the Bay. Directed by Nicky Phelan and written and performed by Kathleen O'Rourke the short film has already been nominated for an Academy Award and has won Audience Awards at the Cinegael Festival in Montreal, and at Newport Beach Film Festival in California to name but a few.
Hasan Everywhere, Donkey and Granny O'Grimm's Sleeping Beauty were all produced under the Frameworks scheme which is co-financed by the IFB, the Arts Council and RTÉ.
The 14th Cartoons on the Bay Festival takes place in Rapallo, Italy from 15th-18th April.
For more information see http://www.cartoonsbay.com/