Talent-Watch: New IFB Short Film Schemes to Premiere at the Cork Film Festival
Discover the diversity of new and established film talent as two of the IFB's newest schemes, Signatures and Reality Bites premiere at the Corona Cork Film Festival next month.
The IFB launched a wide variety of new short film schemes aimed at encouraging new creative voices in the Irish film industry at the festival last year and two of these schemes are now ready to be presented to the industry next month.
The IFB's new flagship scheme, Signatures, showcases live action filmmaking, encouraging strong, original storytelling, visual flair and production values appropriate to the big screen. This year, three films Two Point Five Billion, Uncle Bills Barrel and The Man Inside will premiere at the festival.
Starring Mark O'Halloran and Charlotte Bradley, Two Point Five Billion is written and directed by Jamie Hannigan who has previously directed the award winning shorts The Boy With The Ever Open Jaw and The Beekeepers Son which had its international debut at this year's Rotterdam Film Festival. It is produced by Shirley Weir for Stitch Films who was also producer on The Beekeepers Son.
Uncle Bills Barrel is written and directed by Eoin Ryan who directed the animated short Demon for the Framework scheme in 2005. The short is produced by Nick Ryan who wrote and directed the shorts A Lonely Sky starring Keir Dullea (2001: A Space Odyssey) and The German which is an IFB funded short.
The Man Inside, written and directed by Rory Bresnihan, follows the story of Lisandro the morning when his key breaks off in the lock and he finds himself a prisoner in his own apartment. Rory's previous films include The Butterfly Collector and God's Early Work. The Man Inside is produced by Lucy Dyke with Broken Pictures. Before becoming a freelance producer, Lucy script edited TV programmes and films including Teachers, Omagh and Prosperity.
Each of these three Signatures films was awarded a maximum budget of €90,000. It is hoped that these shorts act as a proving-ground for the Irish creative talents involved, bringing their experience up to the next level.
Reality Bites, is a short documentary scheme with the aim of encouraging experimentation and realization of fresh approaches to non-fiction filmmaking. This year, two short documentaries, Visiting Day and Water Bodies, which were awarded up to €20,000 each will premiere at the Cork Film Festival.
Ciaran Deeney's Visting Day features mothers and fathers of prisoners sharing their fears, hopes and hearts as they stand by their sons and daughters. Ciaran also produced the documentary with Dave Clarke and El Zorrero Films. Both Ciaran and Dave are developing other projects for screen, theatre and broadcast.
Water Bodies is directed by Jennifer Keegan and produced by Jonny Speers and Clare Connelly with Speers Film. Jennifer has previously directed a number of documentaries for TG4 and RTE including Singles, The Beauty Room and The Last Tango. Jonny was producer on the feature film Adam & Paul and his company Speers Film has produced over 300 TV commercials, several of which have won international awards while Clare previously produced Saibir ach Salach, a four-part crime documentary series for TG4.
These two new schemes have the aim of investing in new talent by providing opportunities for filmmakers to develop skills in live action and documentary filmmaking.
The Signatures and Reality Bites short films will premiere on Saturday 18th October as part of the Corona Cork Film Festival. Venues, times and other IFB events at the festival will be announced shortly.