Irish Animation Scoops Two Important International Awards
The success of Irish animation continues to soar this month with wins and official selections at some of the most renowned and celebrated international festivals.
Tomm Moore, director of Cartoon Saloon's THE SECRET OF KELLS accepted the Audience Award for Best Feature Film at the prestigious Annecy Animation Festival in France last weekend. The Irish animation beat off stiff competition from films such as Coraline and Mary and Max to win the award.
There was another Irish win at the festival when Irish-born David O'Reilly, who trained in Cartoon Saloon while a student, received the Special Distinction Award for his film Please Say Something, a film which picked up a Golden Bear at the Berlin festival earlier this year.
Annecy is one of the most respected events for animation film in the world, screening 525 films including 27 feature films over a week. With over 120,000 tickets sold it is one of the largest film festivals in Europe.
The Secret of Kells will have its UK premiere at the Edinburgh International Film Festival this weekend when it screens as the Family Gala film. It is one of a number of Irish feature films and shorts screening at the festival, which was one of the world's first international film festivals.
The Secret of Kells was produced by Cartoon Saloon (Ireland), Les Armateurs (France) and Vivi film (Belgium) and received funding from the IFB, BCI, France 2 Cinema, Eurimages, Media programme, Canal+ Cine cinema, Conseil General de la Charente, Piste rouge, Flanders Audiovisual Fund, Centre du Cinéma et de l'Audiovisuel de la Communauté Française de Belgique et des Télédistributeurs Wallons, Promimage and Wallimage.
The animated shorts GRANNY O'GRIMM'S SLEEPING BEAUTY directed by Nicky Phelan and written and performed by Kathleen O'Rourke and Padraig Fagan's THE ROOSTER, THE CROCODILE AND THE NIGHT SKY have been selected to screen at the 17th International Animation Festival, Anima Mundi 2009 will take place in Rio de Janeiro from July 10 to July 19 and in São Paulo from July 22 to 26.
This official selection continues what has been a successful year for both shorts with Granny O'Grimm's Sleeping Beauty winning numerous awards in the US, Canada and Australia, while The Rooster, the Crocodile and the Night Sky was officially selected for a number of international festivals including the Chicago Irish Film Festival and Cartoons on the Bay.
Granny O'Grimms Sleeping Beauty was produced by Darragh O'Connell for Brown Bag Films while The Rooster, the Crocodile and the Night Sky was produced by Barry O'Donoghue for Barley Films. Both shorts were produced as part of the Frameworks animation scheme was co-funded by BSÉ/IFB, the Arts Council and RTÉ.
Another Framework short that is having a successful year is Tony Donoghue's A FILM FROM MY PARISH - 6 FARMS which screened at the Eskisehir International Film Festival, Turkey, the Mountainfilm in Telluride Film Festival, Colorado and the Green Film Festival in Seoul, Korea in May and has been selected to screen at the Newport International Film Festival, Rhode Island, the Norwegian Short Film Festival, Guth Gafa Film Festival and the Archipelago International Festival of Short Films in Rome in June.