Una Kavanagh in 'Close' |
‘Close’,
the filmbase/RTÉ short directed by Tom Hopkins and produced by
John McDonnell is to represent Ireland at this year’s 61st Venice
Film Festival. The 9-minute film was one of only 26 selected from thousands of entries worldwide to appear in the highly prestigious competition.
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This is not the first time that director Tom Hopkins has had dealings with the oldest film festival in the world, as his last short film “Money, Fear and Justice” was also shown there in September 2000. “I’m delighted to be asked back” said Hopkins “It’s a great event”. This year’s festival has a strong A-list presence, with Steven Spielberg, Tom Hanks, Wim Wenders, Johnathon Glazer, Nicole Kidman and Reese Witherspoon all making an appearance.
The film, starring Una Kavanagh and Margaret Toomey, was shot using new hi-Definition technology by DOP Ruairi O’Brien. “We got a great result from hi-Def, and I would certainly be interested in using it for a longer-form project”, said Tom Hopkins, director. “We were very happy with what we managed to achieve on a limited budget with a very demanding script”, said John McDonnell, producer. The demands of the script included the logistics behind a 2-night shoot involving 40 cars, ambulances, firetrucks and one very smashed-up crashed vehicle on an unopened piece of motorway beside the airport. Action vehicle specialist Stephen Carroll managed to achieve the desired crashed-car effect using a traditional method: iron bars.
The story is about one woman who has a Near Death Experience after being involved in a serious car crash. “The story was told to me by a friend of mine as something that had actually happened to somebody”, said Tom Hopkins “I thought it would make a great film”.
The score was composed and recorded in-house by Paul McDonnell, also at One Productions. One is a creative production company, producing content in a number of different media, including TV, Fashion, Film and Music. Fantastic Films are an established player in the Irish market, having numerous shorts and feature co-productions under their belt, including “Timbuktu” and “Song for a Raggy Boy”.
This is not the first collaboration between film companies Fantastic Films and One Productions. “I think it’s been very beneficial for us to work together on this film” said John McDonnell “and we have a number of other projects that we have agreed to develop between us, including an animation series, a TV magazine program and a feature”.
The 61st Venice International Film Festival will be held at the Lido from 1st to 11th September 2004.
www.labiennale.org
