Six Irish projects have been nominated in as many categories for this year’s Prix Europa competition. The Irish nominated projects include Moondance Production’s ‘The Redlegs: The Irish Sugar Slaves’; RTÉ’s upcoming drama series ‘Love Hate’; Scratch Films’ ‘The School’; RTÉ’s ‘Prime Time Investigates: Tyres - A Dirty Business’; Sarah Eva Mason’s ‘Choose Wisely’ and TG4's ‘An Clann: Cinneadh’.
Moondance Productions’ ‘The Redlegs: The Irish Sugar Slaves’ has been nominated in the multicultural Television Iris category. The documentary examines a community of direct descendents from the Irish who live in poverty in Barbados. ‘Redlegs’ is directed and produced by Paul Arnott, Shane Brennan (The Zoo) and Lydia Conway. It is shot by Shane Brennan and edited by Derek Simon and made in association with the Sound and Vision fund.
Director Shane Brennan is pleased with the project and its insights, telling IFTN: “Barbados is one of the favourite Caribbean holiday destinations for Europeans - but few Irish tourists realise that their ancestors were sent there forcibly to work in conditions of slavery on the first British sugar plantations in the seventeenth century.”
In the Television Documentary group Ireland is represented by Scratch Films’ ‘The School’. Transmitted on RTÉ in January of this year the three part series follows the students and teachers of St Peters College in Dunboyne over one academic year. The series’ directors Liam McGrath (director, Southpaw), Paula Rouse and producer Tony Deegan (Naked Camera) documented school life for ten months.
Upcoming RTÉ series ‘Love Hate’ which starts on RTÉ on October 3rd, is a nominee in the Television Fiction group. The four x one hour drama stars Aidan Gillen (Game of Thrones) and Robert Sheehan (Cherrybomb) and looks to reflect life in modern gangland Dublin. Written by Stuart Carolan (Raw, Little White Lie) it is directed by David Caffrey (Divorcing Jack, Raw). An RTÉ funded Octagon Films production, ‘Love-Hate’ is produced by Simon Massey, Suzanne McAuley (A Shine of Rainbows) and James Flynn (P.S. I Love You).
In the category of Television Current Affairs ‘Prime Time Investigates: Tyres - A Dirty Business’ has nabbed a nominee place. The special episode looked to expose the dirty world of tyre recycling with reporter Paul Maguire going undercover to confront the rogue dealers who are making vast amounts of money while flouting the law and destroying the landscape.
NCAD student Sarah Eva Manson features in the group entitled Languages through Lenses. Her project ‘Choose Wisely’ is a short film which follows the set themes of promotion of knowing foreign languages and the exploration of the richness that the diversity of languages represents. The projects had to motivate the viewer to learn a new language or pique their interest in different cultures and languages.
The Prix Genéve-Europe sees TG4's ‘An Clann: Cinneadh’ (Family: Decision) nominated. The project is one of six short films which all centre around the theme of Clann (family or tribe). Each film deals with the concept of family, and adapts to screen an original script celebrating emerging Irish writing talent. 'Cinneadh' was written by Fiona Ní Eidhin and directed by Darach Mac Con Iomaire.
The Europa Prix team received 543 submissions this year from which 220 productions have been selected to compete in 9 categories. The prize money comes to a total of €72,000. The festival and competition seeks to strengthen the personal dialogue between the creative minds of the international media market. The Europa Prix takes place between the 16th and 23rd of October. Now in its 24th year more than 1,000 delegates from over 40 countries attended the event. For more information and for a full list of nominees visit www.prix-europa.de/en/pe10
