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WIFTA AWAITS ITS VERY FIRST INEVITABLE... “AND THE WINNER IS...”
hen the first enve- reflect that in the events that we the West of Ireland film festival greet- lope is opened on organise. And the emphasis will be ed the studio’s new kiddie flick, The November 28 at the very much on the awards them- White Pony, Brian Kelly’s follow-up to inaugural Irish Film selves, and the work and people his highly successful A Ver y Lucky
& Television nominated, rather than what the Leprechaun, very warmly. Says Academy Awards, it audience is wearing, or what they’re Brady: “It’s important that people see will be the result of having for dinner. we make all kinds of films, from sci-fi
a year of intense preparation and “Irish film has come of age in to action, from horror to romantic over a decade of planning, pleading recent years, and we want to reflect comedies and beyond.” ■ PAUL BYRNE
and hoping. The awards - which set out to recognise and reward excel- lence in Irish film and television - mark the first official event of the recently formed Academy and will be watched closely by the industry.
“I think just about everyone involved in television and film in this country will be watching the event,” says IFTA’s Chief Executive Officer, Fionnuala Sweeney. “It’s something that has long been overdue in this country, and the pressure is there to now make a good job of it. But the support within the industry has been phenomenal.”
Like its sister academies around the world - America’s Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, BAFTA, the European Film Academy - IFTA is a professional organisation whose members are film and televi- sion practitioners.
Financed largely by Ireland’s five television stations - RTE, BBC Northern Ireland, UTV, the Irish lan- guage channel TG4, and the baby of the bunch, TV3, which recently cele- brated its first birthday - IFTA also relies for funding on state bodies such as the Irish Film Board and the Northern Ireland Film Commission. There are also the contributions from individual members, who pay an annual subscription fee of £25.
“We’ve managed to attract 437 members in the first few months alone,” enthuses Sweeney, “which is enormously encouraging. Members have to be employed on a full-time basis within the industry, whether it’s actually making films and programmes, or teaching or writing books on Irish film and television. So we cover pretty much every aspect of the industry in that way.”
Other events lined up for the IFTA include a series of lectures in the new year, each to be presented by a prominent figure with the film and television industry. “They’ll be pre- sented as ‘An Evening With...’ events,” explains Sweeney, “the idea being that the audience can find out a little more about a person’s career and the field they work in. The Irish film industry is in such a healthy state at the moment, we’re pretty much spoilt for choice when it comes to choosing our guests for these evenings.”
The awards ceremony will be televised by Ireland’s longest-running channel, RTE, with next year’s event moving to BBC Northern Ireland. “It’s important to stress that the Academy covers the whole island of Ireland,” offers Sweeney, “and so we want to
that fact. The quality and sheer quan- tity of work within the industry here at the moment is incredible, and it’s really the perfect time for the IFTA to debut. The future, as they say, looks very bright indeed.” ■ PAUL BYRNE
HOW THE WEST
WAS EVENTUALLY
CWON OVER
urrently working on its 18th production The Doorway, Concorde Anois was initially set up in 1995 by American maverick Roger Corman, the man who gave Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Scorsese
and Jonathan Demme their Hollywood break.
After moving to Ireland in order to take advantage of the country’s generous Section 481 tax incentive for film production and get around the introduction of the GATT World Trade Agreement’s trans-Atlantic trade restrictions, Corman set up shop in the West four years ago. Since then, Concorde Anois has produced over 17 feature films (each with a budget between one and two million Irish pounds), accounting for nearly a third of all film production in Ireland since they first opened for business.
“We’ve averaged about four films a year,” says Concorde Anois’ head of production, John Brady. “And that means we work pretty much non- stop. And just like Roger’s LA produc- tion office, we have a pretty high turnover of staff too.”
Described by Corman himself as being as much a “training facility” as it is a film studio, the company has already begun to prove a healthy breeding ground for fresh young Irish talent. Former intern David Caffrey last year directed his feature film debut, Divorcing Jack, as well as the recent BBC television period drama series, The Aristocrats.
“Concorde Anois offers an impor- tant opportunity for young Irish peo- ple interested in film to get some hands-on experience,” continues Brady. “It’s a system that works for both parties, and so far, it’s been very successful. If we can produce some more Dave Caffreys, that’s got to be good for the film industry here.”
The company’s prolific output runs the gamut of all genres. This year,
FUJI CELEBRATES AWITH JIGS AND REELS
s problems go, having to keep up with a rapidly growing economy is certain- ly one of the more welcome challenges for any compa- ny. Just how fast Ireland’s film production has grown
over the last few years has caught many by surprise though, including Joe Hooper, customer services manager at Fuji’s Irish HQ in Dublin.
“It did catch many people off- guard,” he comments, “but only in that it was a much bigger boom than anyone had anticipated. We’ve been concentrating extremely hard on fea- ture film production over the last cou- ple of years, and even though it’s a relatively new area for us, we’ve had enormous success within the film industry here.”
Having been the main distributor of Fuji film in Ireland since the begin- ning of the 1980s, in 1994 JJ Silber joined forces with Fuji in the UK and became Fuji Photo Film (Ire) Ltd. A year later, and Fuji’s Tokyo headquarters decided to buy out all their franchises, with Fuji Photo Film (Ire) Ltd remaining a subsidary of the UK branch.
“We’re independent in that we naturally tailor our business to the Irish market,” explains Hooper, “and since 1994, that market has increased steadily. We’ve had a steady annual growth over the last five years of thir- ty per cent, which is terrific. The important thing now is to keep on top of the game.”
And that means keeping one step ahead of demand. “One area that we’ve been looking at very closely at the moment is the growth in digital filmmaking. We’ve actually found that digital film has been growing hand-in- hand with standard film, and I don’t really see the new format taking over completely. No matter what George Lucas says.
“There are advantages standard film has over digital - such as the abil- ity to change the speed of projection - which many filmmakers still feel is important to them. It’ll be interesting to see how the two formats develop alongside one another, but one thing’s for sure, we’ll be ready for whatever happens.” ■ PAUL BYRNE
EXPOSURE • 30 & 31
FOCUS ON IRELAND
FOCUS ON IRELAND