Nothern Ireland Screen reports that the Northern Irish film, Peacefire, from first time feature writer-director Macdara Vallely, won the Prix du Jury award at the Annonay Film Festival.
The winners of the 6th Annual Irish Film & Television Awards were announced at a ceremony on Saturday night. The full list of the winners is available online, but here are the categories of most interest to our members:
Best Script Film
Martin McDonagh, In Bruges - (Focus Features/Universal Pictures)
George Morrison Feature Documentary Award
Margo Harkin, Joel Conroy, Waveriders - (Besom Productions Ltd)
Best Script Television
Graham Linehan, The I.T. Crowd - (talkbackTHAMES)
Best Short Film
Juanita Wilson, The Door – (Octagon Films)
The Galway Library blog reported yesterday that Mr. Michael Kitt T.D. — Minister of State at the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government — recently signed Regulations which provide for a Public Lending Remuneration (PLR) Scheme in respect of the public library service.
The Scheme, which will be administered by An Chomhairle Leabharlanna (The Library Council) with the co-operation of the local authority library service, will provide that qualifying authors, whose books are loaned by public libraries, will receive remuneration in respect of such loans.
Under PLR, a payment will be made to registered authors, resident in the European Economic Area (EEA), in respect of books registered with the PLR and loaned by public library authorities.
Authors are required to register with An Chomhairle Leabharlanna, providing an address and bank details, etc. Details of books registered will be entered into an author/title database and checked against bibliographic databases for accuracy. Authors are required to register each title and each edition of each title for which they are claiming payment.
Public library authorities will provide An Chomhairle Leabharlanna with loans data, giving details of the number of times each book in their collections is issued during a specified period.
At the end of the PLR period, the loans data from each authority will be matched to the author/title data and a list of authors whose books have been loaned, and the number of issues of each, will be produced. Authors will then be notified of the amount they are to receive and payments will be made.
Payment will be made to authors in respect of their contribution to the work for which the payment is due. The scheme will allow for the percentage of the payment to be made for various levels of contribution, which include, inter alia, contributions such as sole author, joint author, editor, translator, and illustrator.
The rate of payment will be set each year and will be the product of the total number of loans for which a payment is due, divided by the total amount available. Illustrators, photographers, editors and translators may all register for PLR (providing they are named on the title page of a book).
Dublin City Council in association with The Arts Council has announced that Joe Lee has been selected as Dublin City Council's Film Maker in Residence.
Joe grew up in Artane, in Dublin 5 in the 1960s and 70s and has lived for the best part of the last thirty years in Marino, Dublin 3.
Joe studied Fine Art at the NCAD and graduated in the early 1980s. On graduation he specialised in film and video making. Through the late 80s and 90s he worked as a freelance director completing projects with Irish, British and German broadcasters. Central to his work from early on is an exploration of the city of Dublin, its multiple identities and the shifting narratives of place.
From the late 1990s onwards he has worked as a film maker on a series arts based projects with Dublin communities. The focus of these projects has been to work with local people to tell stories of local relevance.
"This residency programme will facilitate me to continue to develop an approach to film making that I have been working on since the mid 1990s. That is, to permit story and actuality in the film process to arise out of a dialogue with people about the reality and experience of place... The Irish urban story is still a relatively new phenomenon. This is the first generation to experience a reflection of contemporary Irish urban life in film, music, literature and visual art. What emerges from these reflections of the contemporary is that there is no single way or approach to telling these stories. What I aim to do in my work is to work with people on the basis of mutual trust, in an attempt to find an authentic voice, to articulate or reveal the reality and patterns of life in places that are, for the most part, just a few miles from where I was born" - Joe Lee
Joe has three objectives for the filmmaker residency. The first is to complete The Markets film, which he has been working on for the past year. Footage already filmed includes 13 interviews with local residents. These interviews range from long time street traders, to archaeologists and community activists, to interviews with younger and older people- including John Giles (who grew up in Ormond Square) and the late Tony Gregory, local TD.
The second is to create new work with communities in the South and South West inner city. This work builds on previous work in these areas and will be completed in the second part of 2009.
Thirdly to disseminate his film and video work of Dublin from the last 25 years. In that time he has made and filmed a great deal about and around the city. The Film Maker Residency programme will allow him to explore ways of making his work more accessible to the general public by linking with the Dublin City Council, Archive Unit, Pearse Street Library.
Filmbase reports that a record number of 343 applications were received for the January 2009 round of the popular Filmbase/RTÉ Short Film Awards.
The number is significantly up from the 2008 applications and represents a threefold increase on 2007. Given the volume of scripts received Filmbase have announced that there may be some delays in processing the applications which are usually announced in April of each year. All applicants will be kept informed by email. ...
Commenting on the round Alan Fitzpatrick, Director of Filmbase, said "The steady rise in applications to the Filmbase award schemes shows the incredible interest that exists at the moment in making shorts. It's encouraging to see so many new people applying for the first time to the scheme which has always tried to uncover and support new Irish filmmaking talent. This will obviously be an incredibly competitive round of the awards and we look forward to seeing the eventual winners."
Three awards will be made in this round, each consisting of €10,000 in cash and a matching level of production equipment and editing facilities supplied from Filmbase. The awards are run twice a year and the next application deadline will be June 26th.
The Irish Times reports that Irish novelist, playwright, screenwriter, and journalist Hugh Leonard has died at the age of 82.
His plays included The Big Birthday , A Leap in the Dark, Stephen D , The Poker Session , The Patrick Pearse Motel , The Au Pair Man and Da.
Da ran for nearly two years on Broadway and earned Leonard a Tony Award in 1977. It was later turned into a film starring Martin Sheen.
He published two hugely popular volumes of autobiography, Home Before Night (1979) and Out After Dark (1989).
He also adapted a number of classic novels for British television, including Nicholas Nickleby and Wuthering Heights, and until recently penned The Curmudgeon column for the Sunday Independent .
Yesterday the award winners of the Berlinale Shorts 2009 were announced.
The Golden Bear went to the 10-minute animated short film "Please Say Something" by Irishman David OReilly
On his web site David said:
It's crazy, I think what honours me most is that something so small, made on a single computer in my tiny apartment is considered in the context of world cinema. Also because it was judged side by side with live action films. It's a big step for me but a even bigger one for independent 3d.
Paris Voice reports that the Centre Cultural Irlandais in Paris will host the 2nd Irish Women's Film Festival in Paris on September 29th.
The debut festival was hosted by the Irish Chapter of Women in Film and Television in Dublin last October
The one-day Festival, which begins at 10:30 A.M. on September 29th, will feature films and filmmakers from WFTV Ireland and aims to bring together the European film community as well as aid women filmmakers in finding ways to collaborate in the future. The festival is part of the celebration of "le Cinéma au Feminin" and will be opened by Irish Ambassador Ms. Anne Anderson. Writers and directors will have the opportunity to introduce their work as well offer workshops to current film students.
RTÉ Radio 1 is looking for radio plays under 28 minutes for the 2009 P. J. O'Connor Radio Drama Awards.
The 2009 competition offers prizes of €3,000 for the overall winner, with €2,000 and €1,000 for the second and third prize-winning plays. As well as the prize money, the winners receive the professional production of their play, the chance to take part in a writers' workshop and, the winning and short listed plays are broadcast on RTÉ Radio 1. Short listed entrants will be invited to an awards' ceremony at RTÉ Radio's studios in Dublin in May 2009.
The closing date for entries is 13 March 2009. Rules of the competition, entry forms and further information are available on this website
The Arts Council Once-off Project Award is looking for applicants from the following categories:
The primary purpose of this award is to support ambitious, high-quality, stand-alone initiatives that specifically deliver a presentation to or an engagement with an audience or public. The award prioritises projects which have the potential to reach new audiences or participants, or which create new opportunities or contexts for engaging with one of the relevant artforms.
Applications can only be accepted for once-off initiatives. This means projects must be clearly distinguished from any other ongoing programmes; they must also be self-contained and finite in nature.
The Writers Guild of America, West (WGAW) and the Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE) announced the winners of the 2009 Writers Guild Awards last weekend:
Film
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Milk, Written by Dustin Lance Black, Focus Features
ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Slumdog Millionaire, Screenplay by Simon Beaufoy, Based on the Novel Q & A by Vikas Swarup, Fox Searchlight Pictures
DOCUMENTARY SCREENPLAY
Waltz with Bashir, Written by Ari Folman, Sony Pictures Classic
Television
DRAMATIC SERIES
Mad Men, Written by Lisa Albert, Jane Anderson, Rick Cleveland, Kater Gordon, David Isaacs, Andre Jacquemetton, Maria Jacquemetton, Marti Noxon, Robin Veith, Matthew Weiner; AMC
COMEDY SERIES
30 Rock, Written by Jack Burditt, Kay Cannon, Robert Carlock, Tina Fey, Donald Glover, Andrew Guest, Matt Hubbard, Jon Pollack, John Riggi, Tami Sagher, Ron Weiner; NBC
NEW SERIES
In Treatment, Written by Rodrigo Garcia, Bryan Goluboff, Davey Holmes, William Merritt Johnson, Amy Lippman, Sarah Treem; HBO
EPISODIC DRAMA – any length – one airing time
"Pilot" (Breaking Bad), Written by Vince Gilligan; AMC
EPISODIC COMEDY – any length – one airing time
"Succession" (30 Rock), Written by Andrew Guest & John Riggi; NBC
LONG FORM – ORIGINAL – over one hour – one or two parts, one or two airing times
Recount, Written by Danny Strong; HBO
LONG FORM – ADAPTATION – over one hour – one or two parts, one or two airing times
John Adams, "Episode 1, Join or Die," Teleplay by Kirk Ellis, Based on the book by David McCullough; "Episode 2, Independence," Teleplay by Kirk Ellis, Based on the book by David McCullough; HBO
ANIMATION – any length – one airing time
"Apocalypse Cow" (The Simpsons), Written by Jeff Westbrook; Fox
COMEDY/VARIETY – (INCLUDING TALK) SERIES
Saturday Night Live, Head Writers Seth Meyers, Andrew Steele, Paula Pell, Writers Doug Abeles, James Anderson, Alex Baze, Jessica Conrad, James Downey, Charlie Grandy, Steve Higgins, Colin Jost, Erik Kenward, Rob Klein, John Lutz, Seth Meyers, Lorne Michaels, John Mulaney, Paula Pell, Simon Rich, Marika Sawyer, Akiva Schaffer, Robert Smigel, John Solomon, Emily Spivey, Andrew Steele, Kent Sublette, Jorma Taccone, Bryan Tucker, Additional Sketches by Robert Carlock; NBC
COMEDY/VARIETY – MUSIC, AWARDS, TRIBUTES – SPECIALS
2008 Film Independent Spirit Awards, Written by Billy Kimball, Aaron Lee, Jennifer Celotta, Rainn Wilson; IFC/AMC
DAYTIME SERIALS
As the World Turns, Written by Jean Passanante, Leah Laiman, Courtney Simon, Lisa Connor, David A. Levinson, Peter Brash, Richard Culliton, Susan Dansby, Cheryl Davis, Leslie Nipkow; CBS
CHILDREN'S EPISODIC & SPECIALS
"Elmo's Christmas Countdown" (Sesame Workshop), Written by Joey Mazzarino; ABC
CHILDREN’S SCRIPT – LONG FORM OR SPECIAL
"Polar Bears" (The Naked Brothers Band), Written by Polly Draper; Nickelodeon
DOCUMENTARY – CURRENT EVENTS
"Bush's War: Part One" (Frontline), Written by Michael Kirk; PBS
DOCUMENTARY – OTHER THAN CURRENT EVENTS
"Secrets of the Parthenon" (NOVA), Written by Gary Glassman; PBS
NEWS – REGULARLY SCHEDULED, BULLETIN, OR BREAKING REPORT
ABC Weekend News, Written by Joel Siegel, Karen Mooney, David Muir; ABC
NEWS – ANALYSIS, FEATURE, OR COMMENTARY
"Yankee Stadium and the New Gilded Age" (Bill Moyers Journal), Writers Bill Moyers & Michael Winship; PBS
Radio
DOCUMENTARY
Black History Month, Written by Anthony J. McHugh; CBS
NEWS – REGULARLY SCHEDULED OR BREAKING
World News This Week, Written by Marianne J. Pryor; ABC
NEWS – ANALYSIS, FEATURE, OR COMMENTARY
Tributes, Written by Gail Lee; CBS
Promotional Writing
ON-AIR PROMOTION (RADIO OR TELEVISION)
Jericho: Two-Minute Drills, Written by Eric Jacobson; CBS
TELEVISION GRAPHIC ANIMATION
"Medical Animations" (CBS Evening News), David Rosen; CBS
Videogame
VIDEOGAME WRITING
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, Writers Haden Blackman, Shawn Pitman, John Stafford and Cameron Suey, LucasArts
Bord Scannán na hÉireann / the Irish Film Board has reported on a Danish-Irish-Scottish initiative to develop eight new films.
Scotland's Sigma Films, Denmark's Zentropa and Ireland's Subotica Entertainment are forming a partnership under the banner of Advance Party II to develop eight new films from some of the most exciting filmmaking talent emerging from the UK and Ireland.
The writer/directors taking part in Advance Party II which is backed by Scottish Screen, the Irish Film Board, Zentropa and the UK Film Council's Development Fund are Paul Wright, Enda Hughes (Northern Ireland), Rory Bresnihan, Ciaran Foy (Ireland) Steph Green (Ireland/ U.S.A) Adrian McDowall (Scotland), Esther May Campbell and Daniel Mulloy (England).
Tristan Orpen Lynch, Producer, Subotica Entertanment said 'There is a highly creative, dynamic and diverse mix of talent on board this ground breaking project and it is the only first time director scheme of its kind in the world'.
Gillian Berrie of Sigma Films says, "The combination of these talented filmmakers and the intriguing and challenging constraints of the Advance Party project is creating an environment for eight memorable and ground-breaking debut features."
Advance Party II (APII) builds on the success of Andrea Arnold's RED ROAD, and Morag McKinnon's forthcoming DONKEYS, which were produced under the innovative conditions of Advance Party I. Taking a lead from the competitive, creative community of the Dogme movement (which spawned films such as FESTEN and THE IDIOTS), Advance Party I imposed new rules on its filmmakers. These primarily concerned the use of a pool of pre-determined characters, which had to be played by the same actors in all the films.
A new set of rules are central to the structure of APII, and will be given to the filmmakers in a workshop at the Berlin Film Festival on 7 February. The rules will reflect the creative challenges of Advance Party I and Dogme, but will also incorporate the filmmakers' tastes and wishes, tailored to both their strengths and their weaknesses.
Zentropa's Peter Aalbaek says, "We are very interested in the establishing collaboration between Ireland, Scotland and Scandinavia because we feel there is a mental solidarity between these countries. Advance Party is a great step in that direction"
The filmmakers will take part in a week-long series of workshops during the festival focussing on creating the 'Advance Party community' and the business elements of filmmaking. They will be working with visiting directors, writers and actors as well as lawyers, sales agents, distributors and development gurus, with the aim of arming the eight filmmakers with as much information and inspiration as possible.
The selected filmmakers have a wealth of experience in making distinctive and successful short films and between them have won more than 100 awards, and two are nominated for Oscar® and BAFTA awards.
The Winners of the British Academy Film Awards in 2009 were announced last night, and a full list of all the winners is available from the web site.
The two pertinent categories for our members:
Best Original Screenplay:
In Bruges – Martin McDonagh
The other nominees:
Burn After Reading – Joel Coen, Ethan Coen
Changeling – Joe Michael Straczynski
I've Loved You So Long – Philippe Claudel
Milk – Dustin Lance Black
Best Adapted Screenplay:
Slumdog Millionaire – Simon Beaufoy; based on the novel by Vikas Swarup
The other nominees:
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button – Eric Roth; based on the short story by F Scott Fitzgerald
Frost/Nixon – Peter Morgan; based on the play by Peter Morgan
The Reader – David Hare; based on the novel by Bernhard Schlink
Revolutionary Road – Justin Haythe; based on the novel by Richard Yates
The Guardian reports that the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust has established a Shakespeare Hall of Fame, to celebrate Shakespeare's status as one of the world's most read and performed authors.
Those honoured in the Hall of Fame are performers, directors and artists inspired by the playwright, and those who championed his work.
The first twelve members have been chosen:
Wexford County Council's Arts Department is accepting applications from artists resident in County Wexford for the 2009 Artist Bursary Award Scheme.
Six Artform Awards, valued at €5,000 each, are available in for the following disciplines: Dance, Music, Visual Arts, Literature, Drama & Theatre studies, Film.
Wexford City Council is also offering two Education / Training Awards valued at €5,000 each open to artists practicing in any artform.
The deadline for submissions is 5 pm, Thursday, 26th February, 2009.
The Finish Film Foundation reports on the winners of the Finnish Oscars, known as the Jussi Awards.
The Best Script Award went to Hannu Tuomainen & Marteinn Thorisson for the children's animated feature Niko & The Way to the Stars. It also won the prestigious Best Film Award. The film was co-directed by Michael Hegner and Kari Juusonen, and co-produced by Magma Films in Galway and Anima Vitae in Finland.
Screenwriter Marteinn has been living and working in Galway for 12 years.
The BBC Writersroom reports that the The Windsor Fringe Marriott Drama Writing Award is now open for entries: unpublished one-act plays under thirty minutes in length from amateur playwrights.
Three winning scripts will be selected for performance in October during the 2009 Windsor Fringe Festival, and the overall winner will receive a £500 cash prize.
The deadline for submissions is 5th March 2009, and information on how to apply is on the web site.
The Guardian reports on the nominations for this year's Laurence Olivier Awards for theatrical achievement in London.
A full list of the nominees is on the web site, but here are categories of particular interest to our membership:
Best new play
Screen Daily reports that representatives of Bord Scannán na hÉireann/the Irish Film Board and the Hungarian Motion Picture Public Foundation will sign a co-production agreement in Berlin on Sunday, February 8, which is designed to foster co-productions between the two territories.
Hungarian Film Commissioner Erszebet Toth announced the agreement February 2 at Hungarian Film Week in Budapest.
Toth emphasized that the reciprocity is in terms of proportion of the budget, not absolute dollar amounts.
For example, a co-production in which 80% of the budget comes from the Irish side would be answered by a co-production in which 80% of the budget comes from the Hungarian side.
The agreement further stipulates that not more than 30% of the budget of such co-productions can come from third parties.
The Galway Film Centre is offering a Script Reading and Analysis Course taught by Paula Mulroe, former head of development at the Film Board and senior script editor on The Clinic.
The course will take place at the Galway Film Centre on each Saturday from February 28th - March 28th (no class St Patrick's Weekend). Places are limited so early booking is advised. For details on how to apply visit the web site.
This course is aimed at interested graduates or practitioners in the industry who want to learn how scripts are evaluated professionally by funding organisations and production companies. It will help to give participants a strong insight into why certain scripts are chosen for funding over others. It could also act as a building block towards becoming a script editor.
The course takes place over 4 sessions (4 Saturdays), with the aim of each session being to provide the participants with sufficient knowledge to be able to write reports and analyse screenplays for professional organisations and companies.
In each session, participants will learn about a particular area for analysis by reading scripts and also watching individual films. Each week, they will be asked to write a report on a script taking on board the professional criteria outlined above and will be given feedback on their reports.
A wonderful new writing centre, called Fighting Words, has been established by Roddy Doyle and Sean Love to help students of all ages develop their writing skills and explore their love of writing.
It was inspired by 826 Valencia in San Francisco, and is located on Behan Square, Russell Street, Dublin 1, close to Croke Park.
The centre provides story-telling field trips for primary school groups, creative writing workshops for secondary students, and seminars, workshops and tutoring for adults. All tutoring is free.
A number of evening courses will be launched soon, including: "Writing out of your skin" taught by Colum McCann, Introduction to writing fiction taught by Roddy Doyle, Memoir writing taught by Lia Mills, and Filmscript writing taught by Gerard Stembridge.
Fighting Words is also looking for volunteers with skills that involve teaching, writing, and/or language, as well as people who are familiar with software and design.
If you are interested in any of the courses or volunteering, please visit the web site.
The Galway Film Centre Short Script Awards are open to emerging filmmakers with original scripts under 15 minutes that display a strong cinematic vision and a fresh Irish perspective.
Three awards will be allocated from a total production fund of €28,500, which includes use of the facilities at the Galway Film Centre.
The 2009 deadline is 5pm Friday 27th February. Applicants must be members, and information on entry forms is available on the web site.
The Listowel Writers' Week (May 27 - May 31) has announced the details of its array of writing competitions, all of which have a deadline of 27 February 2009.
Of particular interest to our members is:
The Eamon Keane Full Length Play
Plays submitted should be for stage presentation only and should not have previously been staged. One act plays are not eligible. Plays can be submitted only once for this competition. The entry fee is €20. The Prize is €1,000, and the adjudicator is Christian O'Reilly.
Details on how are apply are available on the web site.
There were a slew of other awards were handed out over the weekend:
The regional 2008 British film critics' awards, called the Richard Attenborough Film Awards, were announced, and the Best Screenwriter went to Irishman Martin McDonagh for In Bruges, along with four wins - including Best Film and Best Director - to Slumdog Millionaire.
The 2008 Directors Guild of America Outstanding Directorial Achievement Awards were awarded in numerous categories for film and television, including Best Feature Film, which went to Danny Boyle for Slumdog Millionaire.
The 36th Annual Annie Award (2008), which recognises superior achievement in film and television animation, were also announced. Some of the winners included Kung Fu Panda for Best Feature, and Wallace & Gromit: A Matter of Loaf and Death for Best Short.
2009 Spanish Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' Goya Awards were handed out last night. Best Original Screenplay went to Javier Fesser for the feature film, Camino, and Best Adapted Screenplay was won by Rafael Azcona and José Luis Cuerda for Los Girasoles Ciegos, which was adapted from the novel by Alberto Méndez.
The BBC Four World Cinema Awards 2009 were handed out. The winner of Best Film was 4 Months, 3 Weeks And 2 Days, written and directed by Cristian Mungiu. The inaugural World Cinema Achievement Award was given to German writer/director/producer Werner Herzog.
The 2009 Evening Standard British Film Award winners were announced last night.
Irish writer Martin McDonagh, beat fellow Irishman Mark O' Halloran (Garage) and Peter Morgan (Frost/Nixon), to cinch the Best Screenplay Award for his film In Bruges.
Irish actor Pat Shortt (Garage) tied with Michael Sheen (Frost/Nixon) for the Best Actor category.
Best Film went to Hunger, directed by Steve McQueen, and co-written by Steve McQueen and Irish screenwriter Enda Walsh.
A full list of the award winners is available on the web site.
