Producer Claire McCabe and Documentary Filmmaker Cara Holmes Awarded Screen Ireland Skills Scholarships
Posted: 8th November 2023
Fís Éireann/Screen Ireland (Screen Ireland) is delighted to announce that Claire McCabe and Cara Holmes have each been awarded Screen Ireland skills development scholarships in partnership with the Erich Pommer Institut (EPI) and IDFA (International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam) respectively.
Producer Claire McCabe will participate in EPI’s Series’ Women, a leading career development programme which aims to increase the visibility and industry exposure of female producers and female-driven projects at the European level.
Claire was selected for the Screen International Stars of Tomorrow UK and Ireland 2023 and she won an EDA for Best Emerging Producer 2023. Most recently, she produced a TV pilot, Wrapped, as part of RTE and Screen Ireland's Storyland initiative for her own company, Pipedream Productions. She co-produced the IFTA nominated and BAFTA long listed feature documentary, The Ghost of Richard Harris, which had its World Premiere at the 79th Venice International Film Festival. She has produced numerous short films that have screened at festivals like SXSW, Slamdance and Fantasia. She is an alumnus of the Rotterdam Film Lab, IDFAcademy & Doc Ireland’s IGNITE programme.
As part of the scholarship, Claire will begin a 6-month online self-led programme and receive curated 1-1 mentoring and coaching from leading international industry professionals. Networking opportunities will also be available at TV Drama Vision in Gothenburg and Series Mania Forum in Lille next year.
Speaking about her scholarship award, Claire said:
Absolutely delighted to be selected. This course & scholarship will give me the chance to grow a specific skill set to advance my TV project and build up a strong international network.
Past scholars of Series’ Women include Irish producers Anna Mannion (Tri Moon Films) and Emma Foley (Pale Rebel Productions).
Documentary filmmaker Cara Holmes has also been selected as this year’s scholar to attend IDFAcademy taking place during IDFA 2023 from 9-12 November.
Cara's first feature documentary Notes From Sheepland had its international premiere at the Telluride Film Festival in 2023. Awards include Best Documentary at the Dublin International Film Festival 2023 and the Pull Focus Best Irish Feature Documentary at Docs Ireland 2023. Her short film Welcome to a Bright White Limbo was made in collaboration with dancer and choreographer Oona Doherty and it won the IFTA Award for Best Short Film in 2020. The film received a Special Jury Mention at the Tribeca Film Festival 2020 and has screened internationally at HotDocs 2020, Newport Beach Festival, Sheffield Doc/Fest 2020, Aesthetica Film Festival 2020 and the Dublin International Film Festival, 2020 where it was awarded Best Irish Short 2020. She is currently developing her next feature documentary Lesbian Lines and has been honing her practice through documentary programmes such as IGNITE and ESODOC, training initiatives for emerging European documentary filmmakers.
Cara will attend the 4-day programme for emerging creative talent which include industry talks from leading documentary filmmakers, round table discussions, group sessions, as well as case studies on the international documentary market, current trends and insights helping participants develop a broad view of the sector.
Commenting on her award, Cara said:
It is a privilege to be supported by Screen Ireland to attend the IDFAcademy at IDFA this year. It will be my first time going to the festival and I intend to fully immerse myself in the world of bold, cinematic and creative documentaries as well as learn from and build a network with other documentary filmmakers.