 Deis Roc - new series |
The Irish Language Broadcast Fund (ILBF) has announced its latest round of funding decisions with a number of productions greenlit through the scheme.
Since the establishment of the Irish Language Broadcast Fund (ILBF) in 2005, more than 120 hours of Irish language television programmes have been produced through the fund and the Irish language production sector in Northern Ireland has experienced a period of sustained growth and development as a direct result of the ILBF’s investment.
Imagine Media have been awarded funding for 2 education series for a preschool age group (10 programmes x 15 minutes in each series). Entitled Na Dódaí 2 & 3, these series follow the success of Na Dódaí which was funded by the ILBF will be broadcast on BBC Northern Ireland in January. “Considering the high quality of this preschool series, the ILBF has decided to fund a second and third series of Na Dódaí in conjunction with the broadcaster. The ILBF is responding to the need in Irish medium schools for educational material in Ulster Irish,” says the ILBF. The second series is currently scheduled for broadcast in September 07 and the third in January 08.
A second series of Deis Roc has been green lit for production company Tobar. The 6 x 30 minutes & 1 x 60 minutes series will be filmed in 2007. The show is based on a battle-of-the-bands format in which bands from all over the country battle it out for the title of series winner. Tobar has also received funding for a single documentary on the life of Irish language activist Gearóid Ó Cairealláin.
Belfast company Stirling have been awarded funding for a follow up to their popular TG4 documentary series Marú which reconstructs infamous murder cases and new entertainment series Trad Trials which will see famous names getting to grips with mastering traditional Irish musical instruments.
In addition, Stirling has got the ILBF greenlight for a new youth drama entitled ‘Féith’. The series is a joint venture between various partners in Ireland and in Scotland: Stirling (Belfast), MnE (Scotland), EO Teilifís (Galway) and Tyrone (Dublin and will tell the story of a group of young talented musicians who attend a music academy.
