Magma Films was established in Galway in 1994 by Ralph, who had already established Magma Films in 1984 in Germany and Iceland. Magma now centers most of its activity in Galway, but also owns the film and TV production companies Ulysses in Hamburg and Belfast, Northern Ireland, and Pictorion Magma Animation in Hamburg.
Ralph has produced many successful and award winning animated features such as the recent ‘Niko and the Way to the Stars’, ‘The Ugly Ducking and Me’, ‘Lily the Witch’, the live action feature ‘The Summer of the Flying Saucer’ and the Irish Language dating series – ‘Paisean Faisean’.
‘Niko and the Way to the Stars’ which had a nationwide release before Christmas recently picked up two Jussi Awards (the Finnish equivalent of the Oscars) winning the Best Script Award (Hannu Tuomainen & Marteinn Thorisson) the prestigious Best Film Award. The film was co-directed by Michael Hegner and Kari Juusonen, and co-produced by Magma Films in Galway and Anima Vitae in Finland.
Upcoming projects for Ralph and Magma Films include the animated features ‘Bug Muldoon: The Movie’, ‘Ooops - Noah is gone!’, ‘The Great Legacy’ and ‘Dr. Ella’.