Irish shorts have been enjoying much success in the last few weeks with prizes awarded to Wildfire Films’ ‘The Ballad of Kid Kanturk’ and Parallel Films’ ‘Cold Turkey’, the selection of Whakala’s to screen at international film festivals and the completion of ‘The Companion’.
The Ballad of Kid Kanturk
'The Ballad of Kid Kanturk' has picked up the Best Short Award at the 2010 Film Festival Salento Finibus Tarrae, in Italy. Directed by John Butler (Spaceman Three), 'The Ballad of Kid Kanturk' is the story of a violent jailbird with a taste for human flesh, an impressario on the North Mayo rockabilly circuit and his much younger, vampish wife.
'The Ballad of Kid Kanturk' was written by Kevin Barry and produced by Martha O' Neill (The Burning of Bridget Cleary) and Adam Rynne (Graham Linehan: Funny Business) for Wildfire Films in conjunction with the Irish Film Board's Signatures Scheme. It stars Mikel Murfi (The Butcher Boy), Eileen Walsh (The Magdalene Sisters) and Mark Doherty (A Film with Me in It).
Safiter association, in collaboration with Day by Day, organises the Salento Finibus Terrae, an International Short Film Festival totally dedicated to short films.
Cold Turkey
The short film 'Cold Turkey', written and directed by Gavin Keane and produced by Ruth Coady for Parallel Films, has won the Excellence in Cinematography Award at the 2010 Amsterdam Film Festival.
'Cold Turkey' concerns the misadventures of a frustrated Foley artist, curious children and petrified poultry. It stars Wuzza Conlon (Perrier's Bounty) and Angeline Ball (The Commitments) and was shot by Darran Tiernan (Belonging to Laura), edited by Roisin O'Donnell (Deep End Dance), with Karl Merren (Eamon) as sound recordist. Post was handled by Ardmore Sound.
The film, funded by Filmbase and RTÉ, has also been officially selected for competition at both the Palm Springs International ShortFest and the Rushes Soho Shorts Festival. It will also screen at the Provincetown, Breckenridge and Long Island Film Festivals in the US and at the Durban International Film Festival in South Africa this summer.
Forty Foot
Having just returned from screening at the Seattle International Film Festival the short documentary 'Forty Foot', co-directed by Paul McGrath (The Milliner) and Leticia Agudo with Aoibheann O'Sullivan (Croke Park Lives) was recently selected to represent Ireland in the second edition of Doc-Europa, organised by the Portuguese documentary association Apordoc.
'Forty Foot' is about the older groups of mostly Irish locals who swim in Sandycove every day. The film tells the history of the place through the personal stories and characteristics of the featured swimmers.
'Forty Foot' was previously selected to screen in Busan International Short Film Festival, on its 30th anniversary, the Busan Asian Short Film Festival reformed to Busan International Short Film Festival opening its doors to the world. Paul McGath tells us “This is BISFF's first year and out of 1251 films submitted from 57 different countries, we are very proud that Forty Foot is one of the 61 films selected.”
The Companion
Finally, post production has ceased on 'The Companion' from Frogman film in association with Everchanging productions . The short asks the questions 'How far would you go for love?' and 'How much would you pay for it?' and is directed by Oisin Mac Coille and produced By Dominique Monot (actor, The Clinic).
Written by Barry Graham (My Ship is Comin' In), the director of photography is Kevin Glynn (Cairdeas) with Ronan O Conghaile on lighting. The short's cast includes Stephen O Connor, Joan Gildea and Jude Quigley and the final project is available to view at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSfdNt0R4z0
