Irish Films Selected for A-List Festivals Berlin, Sundance, Rotterdam, Clermont Ferrand
Irish films will have a presence at all of the upcoming A-List international film festivals including Berlin, Sundance, Clermont Ferrand and Rotterdam.
32A and SEAVIEW have been selected for the Berlinale, along with short films FRANKIE and NEW BOY. Two short films, THE MAN IN 301 and THE BEEKEEPERS SON, will screen in Rotterdam, THE WEDNESDAYS will feature in Clermont Ferrand and feature film THE ESCAPIST starring Liam Cunningham, along with three short films, will feature in Sundance.
The Berlinale, one of the world's leading international film festivals, runs from February 7th - 17th this year and will feature 32A, IFTA Rising Star Award nominee Marian Quinn's directorial debut, starring Aidan Quinn (Legend of the Falls), Orla Brady (How About You), and Ailish McCarthy who plays the 13-year old year lead. The film explores the threshold between childhood and adolescence and has already received much critical acclaim, winning the prize for Best First Feature Film at the Galway Film Fleadh last year as well as the prestigious Tiernan McBride Award for screenwriting.
SEAVIEW is a feature documentary directed by Paul Rowley and Nicola Gogan, telling a traumatic story from inside a former Irish holiday camp which is now a holding centre for asylum seekers. The film explores the intimate stories of fear and expectation of the deportees living in the camp. SEAVIEW will feature in the Forum section of the Berlinale Film Festival and is produced by Still Films.
Award winning shorts NEW BOY directed by Steph Green based on the Roddy Doyle short story and FRANKIE directed by Darren Thornton will also feature in the festival.
THE WEDNESDAYS directed by Conor Ferguson has been selected for Clermont Ferrand, the world's leading festival for short films which runs from February 1st -9th.. Rotterdam Film Festival runs from 23rd January - 3rd February and will feature THE MAN FROM 301, a short musical based in a prison directed by David Freyne, alongside THE BEE-KEEPERS SON directed by Jamie Hannigan.
Award winning director Ken Wardrop, has two short films FAREWELL PACKETS OF TEN and SCORING screening at the Sundance Film Festival along with THE SOUND OF PEOPLE directed by Simon Fitzmaurice which has also been selected for competition at the festival (17 - 26 January 2008). The Irish feature film THE ESCAPIST, directed by Rupert Wyatt has also been selected to premiere there. Sundance is North America's most prestigious independent film festival.
All of the projects listed above were produced with funding from Bord Scannán na hÉireann/the Irish Film Board.
For more information contact:
Louise Ryan
Marketing and Communications Executive
Bord Scannán na hÉireann / the Irish Film Board
T) +353 91 561 398 / +353 86 329 7819
Editor's Notes
32A was produced by Tommy Weir for Janey Pictures and is a co-production with Flying Moon Filmproduktion of Germany. It was developed with the assistance of Bord Scannán na hÉireann / Irish Film Board, Moonstone International and the Media Programme of the EU. The film was financed by the IFB, The Broadcasting Commission of Ireland, RTE, Medienbord Berlin-Brandenburg, Mittledeutsche-Medienfoerderung, the Media Programme of the EU, and Beta Cinema. International sales are being handled by Beta Cinema.