 Delaney For Listicky |
Two major Irish productions have closed their funding through the Eurimages scheme and will commence production within the coming weeks; Grand Pictures’ live action feature ‘Listicky’ starring Padraic Delaney (The Wind that Shakes the Barley) and Magma Films’ feature animation project ‘Way to the Stars’.
Eurimages is the Council of Europe fund for the co-production, distribution and exhibition of European cinematographic works. ‘Listicky’ and ‘Way to the Stars’ have been awarded €140,000 and €600,000 respectively in the latest funding round.
Grand Pictures
‘Listicky’ (aka Little Foxes) is an Irish-Czech co-production between Dublin based Grand Pictures and Negative Film in Prague. Written and to be directed by Slovakian Mira Fornayova, the €1million feature will shoot on location for two weeks in the Czech Republic before the end of the year, followed by a 4-5 week shoot in Dublin beginning January 29, 2007. ‘The Wind That Shakes the Barley’ star Padraic Delaney has been cast in the film alongside Czech actors Jitka Jersiova, Rita Banczi and Reka Derziova.
Set in Dublin, the story follows a love triangle between two Slovak sisters and a young man. The younger sibling, Alzbeta, is always trying to prove herself to her older sister Martina. She wants a man by her side that can help her create a new home in Ireland far away from Slovakia, where she has left behind a secret past.
Alzbeta falls for Martina’s boyfriend, Steve (Delaney), which causes a deep rift between the two, but they must unite and heal their wounds to face Zuzana, a mysterious stranger who befriends Alzbeta but who is a creature of the sisters’ past, waiting for the right time to reappear and shake their worlds.
The €1million film is produced by Paul Donovan and Michael Garland at Grand Pictures (the team behind Spin the Bottle). The film is supported by the Irish Film Board. No Irish crew can be confirmed at this time.
Magma Films
‘Way to the Stars’ promises to be a delightful seasonal tale which follows a young reindeers quest to find his father, whom he has never met. The young deer's father works in the North Pole in Santa’s Flying Squad, but nobody believes this is true. So the reindeer and his friend, the squirrel, set off on a great adventure across Lapland where they encounter various characters, danger and fun. But can he reach his father in time for Christmas?
Magma is producing the animated feature film with their sister company Ulysses in Hamburg, A-Film in Copenhagen and Animaker in Helsinki. The Irish/German/Danish/Finish co-production is scheduled to complete in time for the 2008 Christmas holidays.
Written by Marteinn Thorisson, an Icelandic writer who is based in Galway, the film is to be directed by Michael Hetner, a Danish director who also helmed Magma’s ‘Ugly Duckling and Me’ which recently premiered at the Toronto Film Festival and will be released in Irish cinemas this February. Production on the film is to be shared between Galway and the other European animation houses; with writing, voice recording and post-production scheduled for Magma’s Galway HQ.
€600,000 received from Euriamges has closed the financing on the €6.1million film which is also supported by the Irish Film Board.
Magma have just wrapped production on their children’s live action feature ‘The Summer of the Flying Saucer’ in the west of Ireland. The film is directed by Martin Duffy (The Boy From Mercury) from a screenplay by ‘Way to the Stars’ writer Marteinn Thorisson.
