Nick Kelly’s short film ‘Shoe’ has won the title of Best Irish Short Film at the 3rd annual Corona Fastnet Short Film Festival (26 – 29 May) in Schull, Co Cork.
Produced by Zanita Films’ Seamus Byrne and funded under the Irish Film Board’s Signature scheme, ‘Shoe’ was filmed in Co. Kerry and Dublin in July 2010, and features Peter Coonan (‘Between the Canals’) and Pat Kinevane as the main leads. The film tells the story of a man about to jump off a bridge when he is accosted by a beggar who wants his clothes, money and shoes before he jumps. It has previously shown in Cork Film Festival (2010), Foyle Film Festival (2010) and was short listed to the final ten in the Live Action Short Category of the 2011 Academy Awards.
Other Irish winners at the festival include Johnny Cullen (from Dun Laoghaire IADT) who was awarded Best Young Film Maker (age 22 and under) for his short ‘Happy Birthday Timmy’. Mike Hannon’s ‘Rat’s Island’ (Still Films), about a down-on-his luck father who is facing a harsh winter living with his son on a small island in an estuary, was awarded Best Documentary and Best in Cork. Best in Festival went to Mexican director’s Alonso Ruizpalacios’ ‘El último Canto del Pájaro Cú’.
Guest speakers at the festival included Irish directors Carmel Winters (Snap), Junaita Wilson (As if I am not There) and Rebecca Daly (The Other Side of Sleep) who were interviewed by Gerard Stembridge (About Adam, Alarm). David Puttnam (Bugsy Malone, Chariots of Fire) and Sandy Lieberson (Stardust) were interviewed by Chairman of the British Film Institute, Greg Dyke.
The Corona Fastnet Short Film Festival was held in Schull, Co. Cork from the 26th to the 29th May. Having no cinema in Schull, the festival wanted to question ‘What is a cinema, anyway?’ and films were screened in pubs, libraries, village halls, schools and even on the side of buildings.
With the help of Brendan Hurley of Digital Forge, West Cork Development Partnership, Granite Consulting and Marin Levis, an innovative intranet network was created in the village of Schull. A representative from the festival explained that this enabled “streaming of the short films to these premises, and the addition of wifi access allowed attendees to the festival view short films of their choice, in venues of their choice.” This network is still in place in Schull and visitors can still watch any of the festivals submitted films by logging onto the network in local pubs, restaurants or book shops.
