Zombie Bashed Storyland

The winner of this year's RTÉ Storyland competition is:

Zombie Bashers, written by Stephen Shields and directed by Conor McMahon.

Storyland II: Final

Voting is now open in the last round of the RTÉ Storyland competition to determine the winner.

The final two projects are:

• Zombie Bashers, written by Stephen Shields and directed by Conor McMahon
• We Own the Streets, written and directed by Alan Kavanagh

Writing Short Films

Filmbase is running its popular "Writing Short Films That Get Funded" course again from 23rd - 25th April.

Making a successful short film is very often a springboard to a career in feature films, documentaries and TV drama. Competition for short film funding under the various Irish schemes, including the Filmbase/RTÉ Awards, is incredibly high.

COURSE AIM:
To give writers and producers expert guidance in crafting their short film scripts to the standards required by Filmbase/RTÉ and other funders and to improve the quality of entries for Irish short film schemes.

TUTOR:
Mary Kate O Flanagan is an award-winning screenwriter and experienced tutor and script consultant. She regularly reads and shortlists projects for schemes across the European film industry.

COURSE CONTENT:

• Finding a visual correlative for the theme of a short film
• Develop an idea from conception to production-ready script
• Avoiding the most common pitfalls and how to rewrite
• Examining what makes short films effective

Cost: €220 waged / €180 unwaged
Deposit: €60 required (non-refundable)

2010 Digital Shorts in NI

Northern Ireland Screen has announced the recipients of this year's Digital Shorts scheme:

• A Cross to Bear - written and directed by Ryan Tohill
• Hardy Hands - written and directed by Chris Baugh
• Of The Sea - written and directed by Paul Hamilton
• Ring Theory - written and directed by Joe Campo

The four films will be produced by Villi Ragnarsson of RedRay Films in Summer 2010.

Northern Ireland Screen and The UK Film Council’s Digital Shorts scheme is a year long programme which aims to seek out and develop new filmmaking talent and enable them to make innovative short films using digital technology.

UK Film Council Plans

Northern Ireland Screen reports that the UK Film Council published its three year plan and launched its new £15m Film Fund.

In developing the final plan, the UK Film Council spent three months consulting on the proposals, engaging with hundreds of people from across the film sector, facilitating more than a dozen consultation sessions and attracting almost 1,000 responses. The plan specifically:

• opens up for business a £15m-a-year Film Fund (topped up further by film recoupment) for emerging, experimental and world class filmmakers;
• ring-fences money for development;
• confirms production companies will for the first time automatically receive a significant share of the UK Film Council’s recoupment from all feature film investments they are involved in, following State Aid approval of the measure by the European Commission;
• sets up a think tank chaired by Tim Bevan to identify new policy initiatives to grow independent UK film companies of scale;
• proposes a national web-based talent showcase, to be launched in Autumn 2010, to unearth fresh talent and to broaden the diversity, reach and the opportunities available to all filmmakers who are keen to engage with one another in a national filmmaking community;
• confirms £5m is allocated to the new Innovation Fund, which will launch in Autumn 2010 (more details to follow);
• provides £500,000 for film exports for each year of the plan;
• confirms that 100% of recoupment from the Prints & Advertising Fund - which widens and supports the distribution of selected specialised films and British films - will, like the Film Fund, top up that fund’s budget.

Alongside this plan, the DCMS have been leading merger discussions between the UK Film Council and the BFI. These discussions have been underway since August 2009 and continue.

Launching UK Film: Digital innovation and creative excellence, Tim Bevan CBE, Chairman of the UK Film Council, said, “We’ve set out a renewed mission, a new set of priorities, and a new way of working. With the right level of support, a successful British film industry can continue to help get the UK out of recession, drive innovation and create more highly-skilled jobs. Further tough choices probably lie ahead, but having reduced our overheads by 20% and positively responded to the needs of British filmmakers we’re now in the best place we can be to support and promote UK film in the years ahead.”

John Woodward, Chief Executive Officer of the UK Film Council, announced that the new £15m-a-year Film Fund had opened its doors for business. Managed by a new team of experienced senior production and development executives, the fund has introduced a brand new online application process in which applicants will set out their creative and strategic visions for their film.

Woodward commented: “The new Film Fund’s primary focus is creative excellence. Tanya and her team will support filmmakers who want to put British filmmaking at the centre of our national culture and on the international map. The aim is for the Film Fund to attract the best talent, encourage creative risk taking, and deliver great films to audiences.

“Joining Tanya in the search for creative excellence will be a team of three Senior Production and Development Executives with an impressive and broad range of film industry expertise. Natascha Wharton, Lizzie Francke, and Chris Collins each have big production successes under their belts – together, it’s a team that will provide a wide range of expertise and tastes as well as a supportive, energetic and ambitious home for British filmmaking talent.

“The team will all work across the full range of projects in production and development, but individually they will also have specific responsibilities.”

• Natascha Wharton (starting 4 May 2010) will focus on development;
• Lizzie Francke will focus on experimental feature length films, national engagement and showcasing new talent;
• Chris Collins will focus on ideas for future film practices for both emerging and established filmmakers, from micro/low budget features and shorts, through to 3D blockbusters.

The Film Fund is open for applications from 1 April, but it will be presenting a more detailed strategy to the UK Film Council Board in the coming months. It has already been agreed that a portion of the £15m budget will be ring-fenced for development – although there will be no automatic assumption that projects developed will become films that the fund would then invest in at the production stage. The remaining budget will be safeguarded for the Film Fund’s own production investments. Further details will be announced in the coming months, in addition to details of the Film Fund’s non-London investment target and how the new online showcase will operate.

Shorts Shorts Deadline

Bord Scannán na hÉireann / The Irish Film Board has announced a call for submissions for the next round of the Short Shorts scheme. The new deadline for the scheme is Friday May 7th.

The Short Shorts scheme has funding for up to seven, 3-5 minute films and aims to encourage the making of very short films that are innovative, provocative or in some way risky and rule-breaking. A unique feature of the scheme is that the films must now conform to a particular genre or theme chosen for each year. In 2008, Short Shorts had to be musicals; in 2009, they had to be films with no dialogue.

This year's Short Shorts, whether live action or animated, must adhere to and explore a theme, which is: Ireland, I Love You or Grá mo chroí í Eire.

Short Shorts generally have better access than longer shorts to commercial distribution. Equally, if this year's crop is especially rich, the common theme may allow BSÉ/IFB to package the films together for screening in a wider choice of situations so that their international exposure is enhanced. The portmanteau films Paris, je t'aime and New York, I Love You have proved to be festival favourites.

We hope the collection of films made under this year's Short Shorts scheme will run the gamut of love in contemporary Ireland - and love for Ireland. Love declared, love unrequited, love lost, love reawakened, love misunderstood, love tormented, love ecstatic. Love of someone, or something, or somewhere.

Films may be made in Irish or English with Irish applications being actively encouraged.

Information on the application process is on the web site.

Golden Blasters Script Competition

The Irish national science fiction convention, Octocon, has issued a call for scripts for its inaugural short script competition.

It's looking for fantasy, science fiction or horror short scripts, less than twenty pages, and in the usual format.

The fees for the competition are on a sliding scale depending on when the script is submitted:

May 31, 2010
Earlybird Deadline €10.00

July 31, 2010
Regular Deadline €15.00

August 31, 2010
Late Deadline €20.00

It has also issued a call for submissions for fantasy, science fiction and horror short films (under 15 minutes) for its second Short Film Competition.

The films that are short-listed will be screened at this year's convention (October 16-17), and will be judged at the event. There will be two awards: the Silver Blaster (audience award) and the Golden Blaster (jury award).

Storyland II: 3

The third episodes of the four remaining projects in RTÉ's Storyland competition are now online.

Vote for your favourite, and the results will be announced on Tuesday the 23rd March.

The top three shows will then progress on to a fourth episode.

Belfast Film Festival Programme

The 10th Belfast Film Festival (15-30 April) has launched its programme.

The 10th Belfast Film Festival boasts over 30 UK/Irish premieres in a jam packed programme, with 125 screenings and events across Belfast from over 25 countries including, Russia, Japan, Iran, Argentina, Israel and South Africa, to name but a few.

The Festival opens on Thursday 15th April at the Moviehouse, Dublin Road with the UK/Irish Premiere of Triage starring man of the moment, Colin Farrell.

Closing night film of the 10th Belfast Film Festival, will be the UK/Ireland premiere of a film by one of Hollywood’s greatest directors-Francis Ford Coppola; Tetro starring Vincent Gallo is Coppola’s first original screenplay since The Conversation; this beautiful film, is shot in black and white and set in the bristling streets of Buenos Aires.

Dublin Film Fringe 2010

FilmmakersNetwork.ie is hosting the Dublin Film Fringe this Saturday the 6th of March at the Banquet Hall, 15-19 Essex Street West, Temple Bar.

Here is the schedule of events:

13:30 – 15:00 Cinematography Workshop | Banquet Hall, 15-19 Essex Street West, Temple Bar
IFTA nominated DOP Ruiarí O’Brien and Production Depot owner John Leahy talk about the various cameras and formats and when to choose one over the other. Another guest speaker to be confirmed. Followed by general chat and networking.

16:00 – 17:30 Shorts Screening 1 | Banquet Hall, 15-19 Essex Street West, Temple Bar

18:00 – 19:30 Shorts Screening 2 | Banquet Hall, 15-19 Essex Street West, Temple Bar

20:00 – Late! | Le Cirk (Sweeneys), Dame Street

* 21:00 Music Videos Screening (Free finger food / Drinks promo)
* 22:30 – 23:00 Awards Ceremony
* 23:00 DJ

Prices: The workshop and each of the screenings will cost €6 admission. Alternatively you can pay €10 which cover entrance to all 3 events. The Music video programme in Le Cirk is free and there will even be free finger food served!

Save our Scripts

The Bureau Film Company is launching a new MEDIA-funded development programme called SOS: Save Our Scripts.

The SOS development programme is currently searching Europe for emerging producers and screenwriters.

Writers will develop their selected one page idea to a full length script, which will then receive feedback from financiers and key industry figures. Alongside this the producers will build their development skills, and new relationships with the participating writers, producers, and industry contacts.

The training will run from May until December and is made up of 3 intensive workshops and a number of one to one virtual script meetings. The workshops will take place in the UK, France and Belgium, and will be composed of a range of writing exercises, master-classes, and peer to peer development.

Writers must be able to display the strength of their writing ability, but cannot have had more than one feature film produced.

More information on the application process is on the web site - note a new web site for the programme will be launched soon.

The deadline for entries is the February 26, 2010.

If selected, the Initial Development fee is £250, and the Final Development fee is £250.

Storyland Voting Open

The second webisodes of the five RTÉ Storyland series are now on the web site, and voting is open.

The results of the viewers poll be will be announced on the 17th February, and the four surviving projects will advance into the next round.

ICCL Film Awards Call for Work

The Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL) has announced its second Human Rights Film Awards

Individual film students, filmmakers, and/ or those with a strong interest in human rights are invited to submit an original short film focusing on a particular human rights-related issue in, or related to, Ireland.

The aim of the Human Rights Film Awards is to provide film students, filmmakers and those working in human rights with an opportunity to contribute to human rights discourse in Ireland, grappling with issues which affect some of the most vulnerable members of Irish society through the medium of film.

Through the Human Rights Film Awards, the ICCL hopes to raise public awareness about human rights in an Irish context, bringing attention to inequalities which exist today and inspiring others to work towards solutions, creating in a more equitable society.

Each film must be original, up to a maximum of 15 minutes in length, and can be in any form, be it live action, animation, fiction, drama or documentary.

The application deadline is Friday, 16 April 2010, and further information on the competition rules is available from the web site.

Irish among Oscar Nominees

The nominees for the 82nd Academy Awards have been announced.

The Irish children's film The Secret of Kells, written by Tomm Moore (story) and Fabrice Ziolkowski (screenplay), co-directed by Tomm Moore and Nora Twomey, has been nominated in the Animated Feature Film category.

"Granny O'Grimm's Sleeping Beauty", written by Kathleen O'Rourke and directed by Nicky Phelan, is nominated for the Short Film (Animated) category.

"The Door" written and directed by Juanita Wilson, is nominated in the Short Film (Live Action).

Irish animator Richard Baneham is among the nominees in the Best Visual Effects category for his work on Avatar, and Peter J Devlin has been nominated for an Academy Award for Best Achievement in Sound for his work on Star Trek.

The writing categories are as follows:

Writing (Adapted Screenplay)

• District 9 Written by Neill Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell
• An Education Screenplay by Nick Hornby
• In the Loop Screenplay by Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci, Tony Roche
• Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire Screenplay by Geoffrey Fletcher
• Up in the Air Screenplay by Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner

Writing (Original Screenplay)

• The Hurt Locker Written by Mark Boal
• Inglourious Basterds Written by Quentin Tarantino
• The Messenger Written by Alessandro Camon & Oren Moverman
• A Serious Man Written by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
• Up Screenplay by Bob Peterson, Pete Docter, Story by Pete Docter, Bob Peterson, Tom McCarthy

JDIFF Programme Launched

Last night the programme for the 8th Jameson Dublin International Film Festival (18th – 28th February) was launched at Dublin's Tripod bar on Harcourt Street.

The festival will open with the European premiere of Neil Jordan's new film Ondine, starring Colin Farrell, a very special event with Jordan and Farrell attending the screening. Highlights in this year's festival include a season celebrating Kristin Scott Thomas' French film work, including the Irish premiere of her new film Partir; three films featuring Patricia Clarkson: Whatever Works, Shutter Island and Cairo Time, which Clarkson will attend; as well as the Closing Gala I Am Love with director Luca Guadagnino and actor Tilda Swinton attending. Other guests include Ciarán Hinds (Life During Wartime), and directors Kirk Jones (Everybody's Fine), Leslie Zemeckis (Behind the Burly Q), Samuel Maoz (Lebanon), Sally Potter (Orlando) and Academy Award winner Fernando Trueba (The Dancer and the Thief).

Commenting on the programme, Festival Director Gráinne Humphreys said:

"I'm delighted to unveil this years JDIFF programme, and I am proud of the wonderful line up of films and events which makes up this much anticipated event. I believe that we have put together a truly dazzling array of films from around the world. With special seasons from Russia and Korea, an increased focus on documentary and classic films, our Irish film season, a retrospective of Kenneth Anger, a celebration of the film music of Nino Rota, and new films from famed filmmakers such Werner Herzog, Martin Scorsese, Tim Burton and Woody Allen, I hope we have found something for everyone. We acknowledge our friend and colleage Michael Dwyer by dedicating this year's festival to his memory and by presenting a season of films to celebrate his life"

This year sees two major foreign language seasons, Russian and Korean. The Russian Season will challenge perception of Russian cinema, and includes screenings of Sundance award-winning Mermaid; spiritual parableThe Island, and the film that has been described as the Iron Curtain version of Hairspray, the colourful and lively Hipsters! The festival will also see a screening of the iconic film Russian Ark, a film shot in just one take in The Hermitage in St. Petersburg, screened in the National Gallery of Ireland. The Korean Season will include South Korea's Academy Award submission Mother; the original and quirky Castaway on the Moon and gangster film Breathless, considered by many to be one of the best Korean films in years.

The Irish Talent Spotlight, now in its third year and run in association with the Irish Film Board, will platform director Conor Horgan who will be showing two films at the festival, the word premiere of documentary The Beholder and the feature film One Hundred Mornings; IFTA nominated actor Darren Healy, whose film Savage will be screened at the festival and cinematographer Kate McCullough with Sundance acclaimed His & Hers. Conor, Darren and Kate will also participate in a panel discussion on representations of Ireland on screen, along with Sundance's Director of Programming Trevor Groth, amongst others.

Special events as part of the festival include a retrospective on iconic film artist Kenneth Anger; Retour de Flamme, a silent film event by the 'Indiana Jones of the moving image', Serge Bromberg, who collates a film from archive footage screened along to his live score; an Out of the Past season of films including Orlando, for which director Sally Potter will attend, and La Dolce Vita, which will whet audience's appetite for the DIT symphony Orchestra presentation of works by Nino Rota in the National Concert Hall.

Continuing a strong tradition for documentary screenings, the Real to Reel season will feature the Arts Council Reel Art Documentaries The Beholder by Conor Horgan; Outliving Dracula: Le Fanu's Carmilla by Fergus Daly and Katherine Waugh; and Jimmy Murakami: Non Alien by Sé Merry Doyle, as well as Doors' documentary When You're Strange, First Appearance Award winner at the International Documentary Film Festival in Amsterdam, Colony, and the stunning La Danse which follows the Paris Opera Ballet, amongst many others.

The festival also offers viewers a special opportunity to get a First Look at some of the most exciting films of the forthcoming year, such as Drew Barrymore's first feature Whip It!, Atom Egoyan's new film Chloe, Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland 3D and Werner Herzog's Bad Lieutenant, as well as offering the chance to see exciting new cinema with the Discovery season such as the multi award winning Revanche by Götz Spielmann and the rich and memorable Scheherazade, Tell Me a Story.

The festival will present a season of screenings as a tribute to the co-founder Michael Dwyer, who passed away in January. Michael truly celebrated cinema, and this selection of films including My Beautiful Laundrette and The Best of Youth, pays testament to his passion. The 2010 festival is dedicated to his memory.

Presenting over 100 films from over 30 countries, 7 of them world premieres, with archive and premiere screenings, special guests, discussions and unique events, all over an action packed 11 days.

GFC Short Film Award

The Galway Film Centre invites applications for the 2010 RTÉ/GFC Short Film Award. The award will be given to the best original script for a short drama. Designed to promote filmmaking throughout the regions, the scheme, funded by RTÉ, is open to filmmakers from all over Ireland. The winner will receive a production fund of €9,500 as well as the use of facilities from the Galway Film Centre. The winning film will be screened twice by RTÉ.

Only one script per applicant is acceptable so please submit your strongest choice and all applicants must be members of the Galway Film Centre.

The closing date for applications is 5pm, Friday 26th February, 2010.

For further information and an application form contact the Galway Film Centre on 091 770 748 or email info@galwayfilmcentre.ie

2010 Filmbase Awards

The next deadline for the Filmbase/RTÉ Short Film Awards 2010 is 5pm Friday 5th February.

Award Details:

• A maximum of two awards will be made per round with two rounds per year.
• Applications will only be accepted 2 weeks prior to the deadline, please see below for application dates.
• Awards are open to drama, animation and experimental works to be completed on film or broadcast quality video.
• The award will comprise of a cash award of approximately €10,000. Successful candidates will also receive a production package with up to 5 days of production equipment hire and 3 weeks of post-production hire. (For more information on the facilities available at Filmbase please visit the website's Equipment Section).
• Some awards may be higher or lower at the discretion of the panel.
• Projects submitted should be pitched at the award scheme, with a duration and production values so that the film can be completed with the finance and production package available.
• Awards are made to the Production Company.

Application guidelines and information on how to apply are available on the web site.

Archive at Lunchtime

A new series of lunchtime screenings of short films from the IFI Irish Film Archive started this week.

The programme will provide new access to the vast collection of its shorter films - professional and amateur, educational and informational, travelogues, sports films and dramas - all of which provide a unique insight into Ireland's social, cultural and film history.

All programmes are free, and under half an hour, so it's a perfect way to spend a lunch hour. January's films were made by members of the Guinness Film Society with producer Mike Lawlor and each offers a fascinating portrait of Dublin life in the '70s.

Information about the dates and times of the screenings are on the web site.

Dublin Film Fringe

The online forum FilmmakersNetwork.ie is taking submissions for the inaugural festival, the Dublin Film Fringe.

Short film entries should be:

• Under 20 minutes long - the shorter the better!
• Made in the previous 2 years
• Made in Ireland and/or by Irish filmmakers
• Be submitted on DVD with the completed application form. You should send in a DVD copy of your film for preview purposes and also a Quicktime/AVI of the film on disc.
• When projecting the selected films we will be playing the films from a hard drive or a DVD compilation and supplying the Quicktime/AVI file of the film will help preserve the quality of your film. Please use a common codec to encode your Quicktime/AVI version of your film. H-264 / DV PAL / etc.
• If you are unable to obtain a Quicktime/AVI version of the film we can pull your film from the DVD copy but this will result in a drop in quality.

The closing date for submissions is January 23rd 2010.

If you like to volunteer to work on the festival go to the forum thread on how you can get involved.

Short Film Course

Filmbase is running a new course called "Writing Short Films That Get Funded" from Thursday 10th - Saturday 12th December 2009, which will be taught by award-winning screenwriter Mary Kate O Flanagan.

Making a successful short film is very often a springboard to a career in feature films, documentaries and TV drama. Competition for short film funding under the various Irish schemes, including the Filmbase/RTÉ Awards, is incredibly high.

COURSE AIM:
To give writers and producers expert guidance in crafting their short film scripts to the standards required by Filmbase/RTÉ and other funders and to improve the quality of entries for Irish short film schemes.

There will also be a Meet the Funders panel, where participating filmmakers can hear from, and ask questions of, the people who select the winners. This is highly recommended for filmmakers who propose to apply for the Filmbase/RTÉ short film awards.

Cost of the course is €180 waged / €150 unwaged, and details on how to apply for the course are available on the web site.