Irish writer and director Patrick Ryan has won at the final pitching session of ENGAGE V in Tallinn.
The National Film School graduate’s project ‘Darkness on the Edge of Town’ was one of four projects to receive a development award from the panel.
The panel included Andrew Meehan, head of development of the Irish Film Board, and colleagues from the Finnish Film Foundation, Creative Scotland, the Danish Film Institute, and the Estonian Film Foundation.
Ryan completed the undergraduate film and television degree in at The National Film School in IADT, Dun Laoghaire in 2010 as well as the MA in Screenwriting in 2011.
He has also been selected for the 2012 BBC Writersroom.
ENGAGE, which has now completed its fifth year, is an EU MEDIA-funded Initial Training Project, for screenwriters, producers, and directors that aims to foster creative collaborations across European borders.
The four partners in Engage are The National Film School at IADT; Screen Academy Scotland at Edinburgh Napier University; The School of Art and Design at Aalto University in Helsinki (Finland); and the Baltic Film and Media School at Tallinn University in Estonia.
Donald Taylor Black, creative director of the NFS, said: “We in IADT are absolutely delighted with Patrick’s success - not only at ENGAGE but also with the BBC’s Writersroom.”
