Irish Short Film Set to Shine at Tribeca Film Festival
Posted: 13th March 2018
Bord Scannán na hÉireann/the Irish Film Board (IFB) congratulates the teams behind IFB-supported short films, Time Traveller, Late Afternoon and Hey Ronnie Reagan, which have been selected to screen at the prestigious Tribeca Film Festival.
The Tribeca Film Festival is one of the most prominent and well-respected film festivals in the US and the festival is seen as a gateway to the Academy Awards® as the awards for Best Narrative Short and Best Documentary Short will qualify for consideration for the Academy Awards Short Films category.
Speaking about the Tribeca selections, IFB Chief Executive James Hickey said: “On behalf of the IFB, I would like to extend my congratulations to the short filmmakers selected for the 2018 edition of the Tribeca Film Festival. This marks a wonderful achievement for Irish film and in particular, our emerging talents, who will now have the opportunity to have their work screened on a major international platform.
“The IFB has always championed the importance of short film in providing an important launch-pad in the careers of Irish filmmakers and we are thrilled to see such a strong Irish presence at this year’s festival. We are also delighted to see Mary Shelley included in the feature film line-up following its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival last year.”
Directed by Steve Kenny, produced by Collie McCarthy, and starring Barry Ward, Time Traveller sees a Back To The Future-obsessed boy striving to finish building his own DeLorean replica before his family are evicted from their halting site. The film, which is part of the IFB’s Focus Short strand of short films, received its world premiere earlier this year at the Galway Film Fleadh, and was awarded Best Irish Short at the Foyle Film Festival’s Light in Motion awards in Derry last November. Time Traveller will receive its New York premiere at Tribeca, featuring in the Make or Break section of the festival.
Late Afternoon, written and directed by Louise Bagnall, follows an elderly woman as she drifts back through her memories, existing between two states — the past and the present. The film will receive its New York premiere at Tribeca, screening as part of a special animation programme curated by Whoopi Goldberg. Starring Fionnula Flanagan, Late Afternoon is produced by Nuria González Blanco for Cartoon Saloon. The short won Best Animated Sequence in a Short Film at last year’s Galway Film Fleadh and most recently took home an IFTA for Best Animated Short.
Hey Ronnie Reagan, directed by Maurice O’Brien and produced by Daniel Hegarty, will receive its international premiere at Tribeca and will screen at the Home Sweet Home strand of the festival. In 1984 a tiny anonymous Tipperary village was thrust in to the world’s spotlight when US President Ronald Reagan arrived to visit his ancestral home. It was said that Ballyporeen would never be the same again.
This news follows on from the announcement that the Mary Shelley, an Ireland/UK/Luxembourg will screen in Competition at Tribeca, competing in the festival’s Spotlight Narrative strand. Directed by Haifaa Al-Mansour, Mary Shelley examines the life of Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin; the author of one of the world’s most famous books — Frankenstein. The film follows Wollstonecraft’s fiery and tempestuous relationship with the poet Percy Shelley, recounting how the two eloped to Lake Geneva, where, in Lord Byron’s house, Mary gives birth to Frankenstein’s Monster. It is brilliant, but women don’t write books and publishers won’t print them. Mary must now fight for her creature and identity, all at the age of eighteen.
Produced by Alan Moloney and Ruth Coady at Parallel Films, Amy Baer at Gidden Media in co-production with Juliette Films, Mary Shelley features an all-star cast including Elle Fanning, Douglas Booth and Tom Sturridge and will receive its US premiere at Tribeca following its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival last September.
The 17th annual Tribeca Film Festival runs from 18 – 29 April 2018. For more information, please click here.