Three Irish co-productions have been selected by the European Film Academy’s for this year’s European Film Awards.
Juanita Wilson’s ‘As If I Am Not There’ has been selected along with Fastnet Film’s Irish/Finnish co-production ‘Silent Sonata’ and Element Pictures co-production ‘Essential Killing’.
Directed by Janez Burger, ‘Silent Sonata’ tells the story of a man staying alone with his children in a half demolished house in a desolate field. His wife has just been killed in a military battle and while the man expects further attacks, a circus caravan stops at his door. Irish producers on the feature are Conor Barry (Savage), Morgan Bushe (The Other Side of Sleep) and Macdara Kelleher (The Runway).
Element Pictures co-production ‘Essential Killing’ is executively produced by Andrew Lowe (The Wind That Shakes the Barley) and Ed Guiney (The Guard) and directed by Polish filmmaker Jerzy Skolimowski (Four Nights With Anna). It has already been hugely successful on the festival circuit, winning awards at the 67th Venice Film Festival and is one of the final ten films nominated for the European Parliament LUX Prize, which will be awarded at a ceremony this November.
Juanita Wilson’s directorial debut ‘As If I Am Not There’ tells the story of a young woman from Sarajevo whose life is shattered the day a soldier walks into her apartment and tells her to pack her things. Irish producers on the Ireland/Macedonia/Sweden co-production were Octagon Films, with James Flynn (The Tudors, Ondine) producing for Octagon.
The EFA have selected 45 offerings from 32 countries, with the Irish competitors facing strong competition from 11 French productions (eight co-productions), seven German nominations (four co-productions) and four Spanish nominations. Competition from the UK includes ‘We Need to Talk About Kevin’, ‘Neds’ and ‘The King’s Speech’.
Members of the European Film Academy will now vote on their selections and the nominations will be announced at the Seville European Film Festival in November. The 24th European Film Awards will take place in Berlin on December 3rd.
