Last night the 9th of October saw IndieCork, Ireland’s newest independent film festival, launch a diverse programme just one week ahead of their inaugural event.
Due to begin on the 16th of October and run through until Sunday the 20th, IndieCork is set to showcase a broad range of features and shorts. Particular highlights of the festival’s pilot programme include the world premiere of four independent Irish features, each from debuting directors. These are:
- Tom Ryan’s ‘Trampoline’, the tale of a college graduate trying to find her place in the world.
- The highly experimental ‘Smolt’, an eventful few days in the lives of isolated young Dublin boys Darren and Leon, made in the style of bootleg VHS.
- Crooked Creations’ ‘Limp’, following a desperately lonely man who fabricates a relationship between himself and a woman he’s killed, and;
- ‘Sodium Party’, Michael McCudden’s eclectic coming of age story of a young girl coming to terms with the death of her parents and the re-emergence of her childhood imaginary friend.
As well showcasing over 40 Irish shorts and further Irish debuts of international features, IndieCork will also feature a number of workshops on delivering and finding a market for micro-budget features. Matt Grady, founder of the prominent independent arts company Factory 25, will travel over from New York to lead discussions on new business models and alternative distribution methods to reflect the state of the independent industry.
When asked about the local response in Cork – a city already boasting one prominent international film festival – festival director Mick Hannigan told IFTN: “The response to IndieCork was such that we’re convinced of an objective need for an independent film festival in Ireland. There’s already quite a scene here, with lots of films being made on little to no outside funding but plenty of merit. IndieCork would like to give them somewhere to exhibit.”
Indeed, the public response to IndieCork has encompassed not only submissions, but funding as well – modelling themselves after the local Cork football club, IndieCork launched a revised structure that allows supporters of the festival to become members, paying a flat rate and receiving membership status and voting rights at the annual organizational meeting as a result. To date, the festival can boast over 80 members, no doubt with more to follow as the festival moves forward from its inaugural year. “It’s a festival that’s really owned by the fans,” confirms Mick.
Run in partnership with the Seven Windows Brewery, IndieCork has secured Palme D’Or winner Ken Loach (‘The Wind That Shakes the Barley’) as its honorary patron, the director just having wrapped on his period piece ‘Jimmy’s Hall’ late last month.
For more information on the IndieCork festival or to view the full programme, visit their website.
