Cúilín Dualach
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The animated short film ‘Cúilín Dualach’ (Backwards Boy) from Kilkenny based Cartoon Saloon will premiere on TG4 on Thursday the 21st of April at 10:30pm, showcasing the skilled work of Irish and international animators.
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The film is part of the 2004 Oscailt scheme, funded by
TG4 and IFB, and was produced by Kilkenny's Cartoon Saloon and Conamara's Sonta Productions. ‘Cúilín Dualach’ took over a year to make, with an international crew and the composer, fiddle maestro Martin Hayes, creating the music from his Seattle base.
‘Cúilín’ is the story of a boy born with his head on backwards. Throughout his life he is mocked and isolated by all the villagers, except his Mother. In the end, he finds his true calling and proves everyone wrong.
Directed by Nora Twomey of Cartoon Saloon, ‘Cúilín’ is a traditionally animated short film which uses a photo montague style in its art direction.
Many of the elements in the background are photographs and some of the characters have real eyes!
This technique was designed for ‘Cúilín’ by the art directors, Ross Stewart and Tomm Moore, and most of the reference photographs were taken in Conamara. The film has a distinctly Irish look to it, which was a main aim of the producers.
The production crew were based in Cartoon Saloon's studio and the animators who worked on the film came from Holland, Germany and France.
