News

IFB-Funded Films Feature High on List for Audience Award at Rotterdam

IFB-funded films were well received at the International Rotterdam Film Festival last week with SILENT SONATA (aka Circus Fantasticus) and PARKED both listed in the top 20 for the UPC Audience Award, which was voted for by the public out of a total of 192 titles.  They were followed closely by documentary OFF THE BEATEN TRACK which came in at number 26, while SENSATION and ESSENTIAL KILLING were ranked at 85 and 86 respectively. 

The award was won by the Canadian feature Incendies, directed by Denis Villeneuve, while other titles to make the top 20 included the Oscar nominated Biutiful, Black Swan, Blue Valentine and 127 Hours, to name but a few.

The 40^th International Film Festival Rotterdam took place from 26^th January - 6^th February and racked up 340,000 visits to its films, exhibitions, performances and events.

Head of the festival Rutger Wolfson commented "We bring together filmmakers from all over the world for ten days in Rotterdam. Introducing their films, the fruits of tremendous efforts, to a full auditorium can lead to beautiful and emotional situations especially with debut filmmakers."

More information about the films

SILENT SONATA / CIRCUS FANTASTICUS (17^th)

Irish/Slovenian co-production SILENT SONATA, written and directed by Janez Burger, is a drama about a family traumatised by war that slowly rediscovers colour in their lives when a circus encamps by their house. Almost entirely without words, a special bond develops between the family and the strange circus guests. Magic-realistic fairytale about courage and compassion, in which acrobats dance with a tank.  The film was co-produced by Morgan Bushe for Fastnet Films in Ireland and Staragar Productions in Slovenia.

PARKED (20th)

Directed by Darragh Byrne and written by Ciaran Creagh PARKED tells the story of Fred Daly, who lives in his nondescript car in a car park by the coast. He is shut off from the world, until the ever-positive drug addict Cathal parks his little yellow car beside Fred's.
Under the influence of Cathal, Fred slowly emerges from his shell: he decorates his car like a real house and cautiously makes overtures to the attractive music teacher Juliana. But Cathal is speedily overtaken by his drug use. Finally, both men get stuck in their lives without being able to go into forward or reverse gear.  Starring Colm Meaney, Colin Morgan and Milka Ahlroth, the film was produced by Jacqueline Kerrin and Dominic Wright for Ripple World Pictures and Aleksi Bardy for Helsinki-filmi, with finance from the IFB and Finnish Film Foundation. 

OFF THE BEATEN TRACK (26^th)

OFF THE BEATEN TRACK is the Irish documentary directed by Dieter Auner which centres around a young shepherd in Transylvania whose trade comes under threat as his brother and friends migrate for seasonal work to Germany.   Produced by Suin Ni Raghallaigh, Dieter Auner and Cristian Mungiu for Ikandi Productions it was described by festival programmers as "This wonderful, warm, human gem just opens up all your senses and gets you thinking about the changes that are part of our modern world and globalisation."

SENSATION (85^th)

SENSATION is a darkly comedic story of prostitution, money, love and sensation 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.  Starring Domhnall Gleeson, the film touches on a very topical theme in Irish and European life: the corrupting effect of money and power on someone who hasn't come across them before.
Produced by Katie Holly and Kieron J. Walsh for Blinder Films (One Hundred Mornings), it had its international premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival last year.

ESSENTIAL KILLING (86^th)

Based on a newspaper article, this almost entirely silent thriller concerns an Afghan captured by US forces and transported to an anonymous European country. He manages to escape but has to survive the harsh winter landscape. Relentlessly pursued by an army that officially does not exist, Mohammed must constantly confront the need to kill in order to survive.  The film 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.