Ken Wardrop’s ‘The Herd’ is to screen at a host of international festivals; Irish film makers will see their short ‘Forty Foot’ screened at the Hot Docs festival in May; while photography is to wrap on ‘The Man in the Boot’.
Venom Film’s most recent short film ‘The Herd’, directed by Ken Wardrop and produced by Andrew Freedman, is set to screen at some of the world’s leading festivals in the coming months having screened earlier this year at the prestigious Clermont-Ferrand and Aspen Short Film Festivals. The short will play to audiences as part of the Observatory section at IndieLisboa in Portugal, at the Seattle International Film Festival in May and later that month at the Los Angeles Film Festival.
Shot on Wardrop’s family farm the quirky documentary explores the exceedingly strange relationship a wild deer has with a herd of Limousin cattle. These latest selections follow retrospectives of Ken’s work at festivals in Amsterdam, Beauvais and the Encounters Festival in Bristol. He recently won the Grand Prix award at the Sapporo Short Film Festival in Japan for his collection of short films.
Film makers Leticia Agudo, Paul McGrath & Aoibheann O’Sullivan have been selected as one of the 13 finalists for the International Documentary Challenge 2009 with their short film ‘Forty Foot’, which will premier at Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival on May 9th.
The film was shot over five days from the 5th to the 9th of March, when 142 filmmakers from 15 countries made 116 short non-fiction films assigned with theme of “Hope and/or Fear”. Originally entered into this international competition under the name ‘An Lár’, this film looks at the 40 Foot swimming area in Sandycove and the people who have been swimming there for years through all kinds of weather.
Dublin based H-House Films’ short comedy drama ‘The Man In The Boot’ wraps in mid-April after commencing photography in late March and shooting in and around the Dublin Mountains and Sandyford.
Written and Directed by Anthony Kinsella, the story unfolds in Co. Wicklow, with two friends who stumble across Adolf Hitler alive and well and living in the boot of their car and the subsequent adventure.
The film’s cast is being headed up by Portmarnock actor Patrick Murphy, who plays Paul, one of the films reluctant heroes. Patrick has recently starred in a US Feature Film called ‘Four’ and will soon be seen on in a new series called ‘The House’ on DCTV, directed by Declan Cassidy (Whatever Turns You On). Thorsten Braun takes on the role of playing Adolf Hitler.
The film’s producer is Niall O’ Connor from H-House Films, director of ‘A Dirty War’, and boasts an international crew with American Tiffany Mortensen as 1st AD, New Zealand cameraman Craig Moore as DOP, with costumes and props designed in India and Sweden respectively. Sound Recordist is Ger Shiels, Make-up Artist is Nadia Macari and Stills Photography by Niamh Crowley.
