Irish documentaries have a strong presence at this year’s Sheffield Doc/Fest with Still Films ‘Rat’s Island’ and ‘Build Something Modern’ to be screened at the festival which began on June 8th and will continue until June 12th. Other Irish docs being screened include Ian Palmer’s ‘Knuckle’ and Colm Quinn’s short doc ‘Needle Exchange’.
Still Films feature doc ‘Build Something Modern’ is fresh out of its run in the IFI which ended on May 31st. Directed by Nicky Gogan (producer, Rialto Towers) and Paul Rowley (Seaview) and produced by Maya Derrington (Pyjama Girls). The doc focuses on the Ireland’s Modernist Mission in Africa and in particular on how Irish architects exported hundreds of modernist designs for structures to be built in Africa in the early 1960s.
Still Films other doc that was selected for the official Sheffield Doc Fest Line-up is Mike Hannon’s short ‘Rat’s Island’. Produced by Sinead Ní Bhroin, it is a short observational documentary about Cork man Eddie Leahy who lives in a rudimentary shack on a small island in a river estuary north of Cork City. With only basic furniture and a wood burning stove, Eddie has survived fair weather but winter is only around the corner. ‘Rat’s Island’ recently won Best Documentary and Best in Cork at the Fastnet Short Film Festival.
The other Irish documentaries screening at the documentary festival are Ian Palmer’s ‘Knuckle’ and Colm Quinn’s ‘Needle Exchange’. Produced by Teddy Leifer, ‘Knuckle’ documents a decade long feud between two rival families from the travelling community and the bare-knuckle boxing that they partake in. Colm Quinn’s short ‘Needle Exchange’ is about two recovered heroin-addicts whose friendship helped them replace a drug habit with a love for tattoos, but can their friendship survive as their lives stabilize.
Sheffield Doc/Fest is one of the largest documentary film festivals with 120 films and 300 speakers at the event which runs from June 8th – 12th 2011. Over 150 buyers and decision makers from 20 countries will be participating in the marketplace at the Sheffield Doc/Fest this year. More information on the programme and the times of the Irish screenings are available on the website at: sheffdocfest.com.
