The Irish Film Board (IFB) today released details of its fourth quarter funding decisions of 2013.
These decisions cover production and co-production loans for features, animation and documentaries; development loans and distribution loans.
12 projects will receive production backing from the IFB including Brendan Muldowney’s upcoming project ‘Pilgrimage’. The film will be given one of the IFB’s biggest grants of €900,000. The SP Films production is due to begin filming later this year. ‘Pilgrimage’ is written by Jamie Hannigan and produced by Conor Barry and John Keville. Muldowney (‘Love Eternal’) captures the story of a group of 13th Century monks who must escort a sacred relic across an Irish landscape fraught with peril.
Subotica’s ‘Unless’ is a Canadian-Irish co-production adapted from the Carol Shields novel. Directed by Alan Gilsenan (Timbuktu), the film will receive €500,000 in funding. Newgrange Pictures’ ‘Seeing Chris’, directed by Tom Cairns, will also receive the same amount from the IFB.
‘I am Not a Serial Killer’ is an Irish production based on the first book in the ‘John Wayne Cleaver’ trilogy by Dan Wells. It will be written and directed by Billy O'Brien (Isolation) and produced by Nick Ryan (The Summit) for Image Now. Funding in the amount of €300,000 will be given towards the film.
The Jane Austen adaption ‘Love & Friendship’ starring Sienna Miller and Chloe Sevigny will receive €250,000 in funding. Written and directed by Oscar nominated Whit Stillman (The Last Days of Disco, Metropolitan, Barcelona), the film will shoot in Ireland this summer. Miller will take on the lead role of Lady Susan Vernon in the big-screen production. ‘Love & Friendship’ is produced by Katie Holly of Blinder Films.
Other films set to receive funding include Mark Noonan’s ‘You’re Ugly Too’ starring Aidan Gillen (Game of Thrones, Mister John), the documentary ‘Lockout’, directed by Sinead O’Brien, and Alex Gibney’s ‘Ceasefire Massacre’, which will receive co-production support from the IFB.
Development backing will be provided from the IFB towards Lenny Abrahamson’s ‘Room’, Terry McMahon’s ‘Oliver Twisted’ and Rebecca Daly’s ‘Good Favour’. Tomi Ungerer’s ‘Moon Man’ will also receive distribution support.
It is estimated that the funding decisions announced today will generate approximately €10.5 million in Irish production activity which will be spent on Irish jobs and local goods and services.