‘Davey Jones’, ‘Paint’, ‘Sundays’ & ‘The Dinner Party’, the four shorts chosen by Northern Ireland Screen Digital Shorts, have commenced production in association with Red Ray Films.
The Digital Shorts scheme is one of several development programmes which Northern Ireland Screen and The UK Film Council administers, offering young, talented and upcoming film-makers experience and assistance as their careers progress in the industry, enabling them to make innovative short films using digital technology.
Now in its fifth year, this round of the scheme was extremely popular and continues to attract a growing number of applicants annually. Initially twelve projects were selected to go through the development process. Each of these twelve received full and frank feedback on the potential strengths and weaknesses of their projects and advice on how to proceed from a respected script consultant. After the development stage, projects were assessed and the writer/directors were interviewed and whittled down to four. These four films ‘Davey Jones’, ‘Paint’, ‘Sundays’ & ‘The Dinner Party’ were then commissioned with budgets of up to £10,000.
Villi Ragnarrson of Red Ray films is executive producer of the Digital Shorts films. A native of Iceland but now based in Northern Ireland, Villi produced the Oscar nominated Born Náttúrunnar (aka Children of Nature). Villi stated: "Short film is often the first step on the journey to a professional filmmaking career. The small scale and budget enables filmmakers to experiment and learn the craft of filmmaking."
