Irish Short Films continue success at International Film Festivals
Irish short films continue to do well on the international stage screening in festivals and winning awards all over the world.Declan Cassidy's Whatever Turns You On has been selected as a finalist in the prestigious Aspen Shortfest in the US next month where a win would make the short film eligible for entry to the Academy Awards. The short film, produced by Bill Tyson for Timesnap Ltd., as part of the IFB's Short Shorts scheme, has already picked up Best Film awards at the Florence Film Festival, the Filmstock Film Festival in Britain and the Kerry Film Festival late last year.
The animated Granny O'Grimm's Sleeping Beauty directed by Nicky Phelan has just scooped the Audience Award for Best Short Film at the Omaha Film Festival, Nebraska in the US as well as the Best Animation award at the recent Irish Film and Television Awards. The short film was produced by Darragh O'Connell for Brown Bag Films as part of the Frameworks animation scheme was co-funded by BSÉ/IFB, the Arts Council and RTÉ.
Other recent Frameworks successes include Padraig Fagan's The Rooster, The Crocodile and the Night Sky which has been selected for the Chicago Irish Film Festival and the Belfast Film Festival this month and Tony Donoghue's A Film From My Parish - 6 Farms which, following it's screening at the Sundance Film Festival in January, will screen at the Ashland Independent Film Festival, Oregon in the US and the Eskisehir International Film Festival in Turkey next month.
Meanwhile, the Short Cuts comedy Spacemen Three starring Pat Shortt was warmly received at the World of Comedy Film Festival in Toronto last week. Directed by Hugh O'Conor and produced by Lucy Dyke for Broken Pictures Limited, the film was funded by the IFB and RTE. The Short Cuts scheme has now been replaced by the Signatures scheme.
Two Oscailt short films Foireann Codladh and Feileachán have picked up a few official selections in major upcoming international film festivals. Feileachán, directed by Cecilia McAllister has been selected for the Nashville Film Festival which is an Oscar qualifier festival. Danann Breathnach's short Foireann Codladh meanwhile has been selected for the upcoming Chicago Irish Film Festival and Cleveland International Film Festival in the US as well as the Roma Independent Film Festival in Italy. The Irish language Oscailt scheme which was funded by the IFB and TG4 ceased to exist last year with all of the IFB short schemes now open to Irish language entries.