Irish Animated Short Film to Screen at Prestigious Venice Film Festival
The Irish short film BLIND MAN'S EYE directed by Matthew Talbot-Kelly has been selected to screen at the internationally renowned 64th Venice Film Festival which takes place from 29th August - 8th September 2007. The film, which was produced as part of the Frameworks animation scheme, premiered at the Galway Film Festival last month.
Scripted by Neil Leyden, from an original idea of Talbot-Kelly, the short film is an ambitious and experimental animation piece which creates a digitally generated world representing the inner spiritual universe of a blind man.
Before returning from Canada to Ireland in 2005, director Talbot-Kelly was a digital supervisor on the academy award nominated feature i,Robot, a senior compositor for the Emmy award winning TV series Rome, and a long term visual effects contributor to the popular TV series Stargate. Working as an independent digital artist, animator and designer, his more recent Irish film and TV work includes matte paintings and visual effects for the features Fido and Slither, the new TG4 station idents, graphic openings for the RTE programmes Dustin's Daily News, Premiership Football and Questions & Answers, and commercials for Bank of Ireland, Aer Lingus, and the Irish Independent.
"I am surprised and honoured! It's fabulous news! Being accepted to Venice is a huge endorsement of our efforts and intentions. One of the wonderful things is that the film is in the short film competition, as opposed to an exclusively animated film competition. This tells me that the film is being seen as a 'film' in the artistic and inclusive sense, and is therefore not just about the experimental techniques that were employed" said director Matthew Talbot-Kelly.
Simon Perry, Chief Executive Bord Scannán na hÉireann/the Irish Film Board said "We're delighted to see Blind Man's Eye achieve international recognition at such a prestigious festival. The Irish animation sector is thriving and Ireland has a growing reputation for outstanding animation talent. The IFB has been a big supporter of the animation industry over the last 12 years and many of the companies who produced Frameworks short films over the last decade have now flourished into major companies producing feature films and large TV series. We are looking forward to working with Matthew and his production team again in the future and wish him every success."
The Irish film industry has had a very positive relationship with the Venice Film Festival in the past. The short film The Carpenters Clumsy Wife directed by Peter Foott won a Special Mention at the festival in 2004 and The Magdalene Sisters scooped the Golden Lion for Best Feature Film in 2002.
The short film was produced by Michael Algar for Glimpse Digital under the Frameworks schemed funded by Bord Scannán na hÉireann/the Irish Film Board, RTE and the Arts Council. The scheme aims to develop new talent and skills in this area. Major successes from this scheme include Give up your Aul Sins, produced by Brown Bag Films in 2001 which was nominated for an Oscar in the Best Animated Short Film category.