Irish Delegation Head to South by Southwest Film & Technology Festival in Texas
Bord Scannán na hÉireann/the Irish Film Board, Enterprise Ireland and a delegation of Irish film and technology companies are attending the South by Southwest (SXSW) conference in Austin, Texas this week.
Celebrating its 25th anniversary, SXSW is widely recognised as the premier destination for the most ambitious digital media and film companies to showcase their work (Twitter launched here just a few years ago), and mix with key players in the interactive media, film and music industries to drive their business forward.
The Irish delegation will attend with the aim of encouraging greater interaction between film and emerging technology and interactive media.
The Irish feature CHARLIE CASANOVA written and directed by Terry McMahon had its world premiere as part of the Narrative Feature Competition last night at the film festival. It is the first non-American film to be selected for the competition in six years and the first Irish film ever selected for it.
Starring Emmett Scanlan (The Guards, Savage) and Leigh Arnold (The Clinic) the film, which tells the story of Charlie Casanova, a sociopathic member of the ruling class who knocks down a working class girl in a hit-and-run and uses a deck of playing cards to determine his fate.
The film will face competition from other international films listed in SXSW's Narrative Feature category including Aimée Lagos' 96 Minutes; Chris Eyre's A Year in Mooring; Matt D'Elia's American Animal; Janet Grillo's Fly Away; K. Lorrel Manning's Happy New Year; Robbie Pickering's Natural Selection and Small, Beautifully Moving Parts from Annie J. Howell and Lisa Robinson.
The South By Southwest (SXSW) 2011 music, interactive and film festivals and conferences runs from March 10th-19th 2011. The film festival is one of the world's premiere film festivals with a special focus on new directing talent. Enterprise Ireland and Board Scannán na hÉireann/the Irish Film Board will be showcasing the best Irish film and technology in Exhibit Hall 3, space 1135.
Irish Film and Technology Companies Attending SXSW:
Black Sheep Productions http://www.blacksheepproductions.ie/
Black Sheep produces feature fiction, documentary and television. John Wallace produced the award winning thriller "Rewind" and is in post production on Kirsten Sheridan's feature "Dollhouse". John is also in post production on the documentary features "Apples of the Golan" and "Aftermath" both co productions with Austrian firm Golden Girls. Black Sheep is interested in finding new ways to produce, promote and distribute its productions.
Blinder Films http://www.blinderfilms.com/
Bl!nder Films seeks to make unique stories across film, television, and transmedia that will provoke, move and entertain. To date their projects have screened at numerous international festivals including Edinburgh, Seattle, Slamdance, Rotterdam, London, Toronto and Palm Springs. Their first feature One Hundred Mornings received a Special Jury Award at the 2010 Slamdance Film Festival, and won the inaugural Workbook Project Discovery and Distribution Award. Their latest production Citadel, a psychological horror, is currently in post production. They are currently developing a number of multi-platform projects.
Dublin International Film Festival http://www.jdiff.com/
The Dublin International Film Festival (DIFF) is Ireland's premier film event, with 120 Irish and international screenings and events presented to an audience of 40K+ attendees. DIFF celebrates cinema, presenting film on all formats and using the latest cutting edge technology. Each year the festival programme builds on our new and established international and local partnerships ensuring a rich and relevant programme of events.
Element Pictures http://www.elementpictures.ie/
With offices in Dublin and London, Element Pictures & Distribution is a Film & TV drama production and film distribution company. Recent productions include Paolo Sorrentino's feature ‘This Must Be The Place', starring Sean Penn & Frances McDormand, ‘The Guard', directed by John Michael McDonagh, starring Brendan Gleeson and Don Cheadle. Element Pictures Distribution recently launched Volta - a Video on Demand platform for Ireland. Volta is a founding member of EuroVoD, the European Federation of Independent Cinema VoD Platforms, along with six other European partners.
Fastnet Films http://www.fastnetfilms.com/
Fastnet Films is the production company of producers Macdara Kelleher, Morgan Bushe and director Lance Daly. The company produces and co-produces feature films, television drama and documentaries for domestic and international release.
Still Films http://www.stillfilms.org/
Still Films is an award winning, transmedia cross platform production company which originated from the Darklight Festival. The company produces feature films, TV series, animations, documentaries and artist films. Still Films use the crowdfunding platform for financing. Their latest feature Pyjama girls was promoted virally through social media networks. Still Films are interested in pursuing new approaches to filmmaking and distribution in all genres.
Windmill Lane Pictures http://www.windmilllane.com/
indmill Lane Pictures is the premier post production facility house for Feature Film, TV Drama, Programming & Commercials in the heart of Dublin. Windmill Lane Digital, a new division of Windmill Lane Pictures harnesses our wealth of experience, and creativity to create interactive campaigns for web based platforms and designs/produces applications for iPhone & Android. Windmill LaneVFX - Ireland's first dedicated feature film visual effects studio operates a dedicated Maya Nuke pipeline and is currently engaged in producing CGI and visual effects for major international feature films.
Digital Sound Mark http://www.digitalweed.ie/
Digital Sound Mark is one of a suite of products based on ground-breaking digital watermark technology for content verification, content tracking, content protection and copy prevention in the entertainment industry.
The HMH New Ventures and Innovation Group - http://www.hmhco.com/
The HMH New Ventures and Innovation Group is focused on strategy, new innovations, and research and development around new technologies and business models. Many of these ideas will emerge from the HMH Innovation Fund and will lead to this group incubating the most exciting products and business opportunities identified.
OWJO - http://www.owjo.com/
OWJO is a portable online store that can be set up almost anywhere online. You can add your OWJO to any part of your website, have another website or blog host your OWJO, add your OWJO to your Facebook fan page or someone else's fan page or to your favorite social networking site...add your OWJO anywhere and everywhere. When we designed OWJO, we wanted it to be as simple as possible for you to manage your store - that's why it's easy to understand, easy to set up and easy to maintain. Total control has never been easier.
Rothco - http://www.rothco.ie/
Rothco help organisations to develop communications ideas that grow their business. Their work has resulted in multimillion dollar sales growth for their clients. Rothco create work from global television commercials to local traffic building campaigns. If your product is outstanding then they can help you tell the world about it. Reaching the right people with a message that ensures you stand out. Rothco ideas grow business.
Seevl http://seevl.net/
Seevl is a spin-out of the Digital Enterprise Research Institute at the National University of Ireland, Galway. Seevl reinvents the music discovery experience by providing music-related data integration, search and recommendation services. Seevl's platform intelligently combines various data sources in order to build a giant knowledge base of musical entities (artists, labels, genres, etc.) on top of which enables various discovery and explanatory recommendation services.
Storyful - http://www.storyful.com/
Storyful is the first news agency purpose-built for the age of social media. Storyful curates the smartest conversations and most valuable content flowing through social media channels. Storyful combines groundbreaking technology with the skills of professional journalism and the global reach of an online community. Storyful delivers premium news alerts to news professionals and is developing curation partnerships with global media brands including YouTube.
Studio Rua - http://www.studiorua.ie/
Studio Rua Designs, Develops and Delivers rich media applications that change how people do things on the internet. Whether this is an online advertising campaign that needs to make an impact on thousands of people, or a management system that needs to be easy to use and more efficient for hundreds. We would love to talk to you if you are looking for a technology partner to develop your new app, or are involved in the development of educational technology.
Ticket Truck - http://www.tickettruck.com/
Ticket Truck is a next-generation, social e-commerce platform. Ticket Truck develops and markets a suite of social e-commerce software products for the enterprise social commerce market. The platform offers the capability to distribute, sell, reward, and analyze products in Facebook.
Trezur http://www.trezur.com/
Trezur: do more with your music. The Trezur app allows you to engage more with the music collection you already have on your PC or phone. Features include lyrics, vocal reduction, games, auto-playlists, auto-DJ, and more. Download the free version at http://www.trezur.com/.