Colin McIvor’s feature, ‘Cup Cake’ has been awarded the Flickers North County Film Festival prize for the Best Feature Grand Prix whilst fellow Northern Irish project ‘Paradiso’ will have its US premiere when it screens at the Petaluma International Film Festival. ‘Today is Better than Two Tomorrows’ will screen at Luang Prabang, Laos’ first major film festival. Furthermore the European Documentary Network is accepting online pitching submissions of art documentaries.
Cup Cake wins Flickers Best Feature Prize
‘Cup Cake’ has scooped the title of Best Feature Grand Prix at the New Hampshire Flickers North County Film Festival. The Northern Ireland Screen funded project is directed by Colin McIvor and stars Adam Best (Holby City).
‘Cup Cake’ was selected by Northern Ireland Screen as part of their Ultra Low Budget Fiction Fund. The feature, which filmed in Ballymoney, County Antrim is written by Christine Murphy (Doctors), produced by Katy Jackson (Charlotte’s Red) and directed by Colin McIvor (Driven) with Cian de Buitlear (Man About Dog) as the project’s director of photography using a HD cam on the four-week long shoot. In addition to Adam Best, the film also stars Michelle Fairley (Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows), Clive Russell (Jam And Jerusalem), Paddy Jenkins (Bel's Boys) Ian McElhinney (Single-Handed) and newcomer Kasia Koleczek as 'Gala', PJ's romantic interest.
Director Colin McIvor has voiced his happiness at the news of the win, telling IFTN: "We are truly delighted with winning the Grand Prix at the Flickers North County Film Festival, in fact we are truly delighted with all our wins to date! 'Cup Cake' was made on a shoestring by the most fantastic bunch of people and to see it being well received in festivals and in particular festivals in the states is just fantastic."
To view the 'Cup Cake's trailer visit www.colinmcivor.com. This was the first Flickers North County Film Festival. The non-profit festival aims to promote New Hampshire’s Great North Woods as a regional center for the arts.
‘Paradiso’ to receive US premiere at Petaluma
‘Paradiso’ will receive its US premiere at the Petaluma International Film Festival in Tiburon, San Francisco. The film, directed by Alessandro Negrini and produced by Margo Harkin (Waveriders) is set in Derry and sees Northern Irish man, Roy Arbuckle decide it’s time to challenge one of the monstrosities left by the war: fear.
The hour long documentary centres around a major dance night organised in a bid to get Protestants and Catholics dancing together again in The Fountain, a dying Protestant district. Commissioned by the BBC, the film also recently won Best Documentary Award in the Independent Films Section at Dhaka International Film Festival. The director of photography is Odd Geir Saether (Turnaround).
The Petaluma International Film Festival (PIFF) is an annual event showcasing the independent feature and short films from around the world. For a full list of films that have been officially selected to screen visit www.petalumafilmfestival.org/
‘TBTT’ selected to compete at first ever Luang Prabang Film Festival
Feature documentary, ‘Today is better than two tomorrows’ has been officially selected as opening night film in the 2010 Luang Prabang Film Festival, which will be the first major film festival in the history of Laos. ‘Today is Better than Two Tomorrows’ tells the simple story of friendship between two eleven year old Buddhist boys who leave home to find a better life in Luang Prabang, in Laos South East Asia. One of only a few documentaries to come out of Laos it was filmed by Anna Rodgers, director of ‘If These Walls Could Talk’, on a DV camera after she came across the two boys whilst backpacking. Rodgers proceeded to spend over 4 years bringing the story of the young boys to the screen with no commission, crew or translator.
With the support of the Irish Film Board and Crossing the Line Films, the film was completed in early 2009. It was edited by IFTA nominee Emer Reynolds (The Eclipse) and Oliver Fallen (The Importance of Being Irish), produced by Siobhán Ward (If These Walls Could Talk) and John Murray (The Strange Case of the Irish Crown Jewels), with an original score by Cyril Morin (Locked In) and Hugh Rodgers (If These Walls Could Talk).
Over 100 films from 10 countries were reviewed, and 23 were selected to be shown at this Luang Prabang Film Festival. All films are in competition, and this film along with others will go on a traveling roadshow after the festival to rural villages in Laos where the people have little or no access to films and television.
EDN Accepting Online Pitching Submissions
The European Documentary Network is currently accepting submissions of art documentary projects for their second EDN Online Pitching Session which will take place on December 9th. The new thematic pitching format being used is based on an online video-conference, where three documentary projects are introduced. The deadline for submissions is November 11th.
At the EDN Online Pitching Session three documentary projects are pitched to a group of leading international financiers and decision makers. The pitching takes place online in the EDN Video Conference Room and the session lasts one hour. For the online pitching there will be 6-8 financiers and experts participating to comment on the presented projects and express their interest in potential co-production and financing opportunities.
To learn more about the submission process and to apply visit www.edn.dk
