Thoroughly civilised afternoon at the pictures enjoyed by seniors at Siamsa Tíre

Marie Duffy and Cathy Kelliher get ready to take their seats at Siamsa Tíre

When we get a bit older we're probably not too pushed about going to see a computer-generated vision of the apocalypse, or a teenage flesh-fest, or to take a three-dimensional trip to the intergalactic jungle home of extra-terrestrial smurf-like creatures. Our appetite for hot-dogs, nachos, titanic sized portions of popcorn and buckets of fizz will perhaps diminish somewhat as we advance in our years, and we may wish for a more elegant and demure way to enjoy a great movie on a big screen in the company of our peers.

If that does happen to me someday, I hope that Kerry Film Festival's active retired screenings are still being held at Siamsa Tire.

In spite of my tender years I was lucky enough to be present Wednesday afternoon’s screening of The Night of the Hunter, a classic dating back to 1955 starring Robert Mitchum, Shelley Winters and Lillian Gish. There was a great atmosphere as film lovers gathered for tea, coffee and biscuits, chatting to friends and admiring some of the artwork on display around Siamsa Tire, prior to the film.

The monthly active retired screenings will continue at 2pm on June 1st with 1944 classic National Velvet starring Mickey Rooney and Elizabeth Taylor. All films cost just €2 to anyone over the age of sixty-five and refreshments are provided by Kerry Film Festival.

It’s a great social occasion as well as a unique opportunity for seasoned film enthusiasts to see some fantastic films on the big screen, and without a smurf in sight.

For more information, please call Kerry Film Festival on 066 712 9934.

KFF to screen French Film in Kenmare

Comme Une Image, to screen in The Carnegie, Kenmare, at 2:00 pm, Wednesday April 13th

Kerry Film Festival (KFF) is delighted to announce a screening of COMME UNE IMAGE, a wonderful French Film which picked up the Best Screenplay Award at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival. Working in close collaboration with the Irish Film Institute (IFI) and Kerry County Council the film will screen in The Carnegie in Kenmare on Wednesday, April 13th at 2:00 pm.

"We're thrilled to be in a position to screen a film for French students and it's an amazing film," said Kerry Film Festival Director, Jason O' Mahony. "The education screenings that take place during the Kerry Film Festival are always a success and we're delighted to be able to extend those screenings throughout the year. We're also indebted to the support we receive from the IFI and Kerry County Council, which makes the screening possible."

The winner of the Best Screenplay Award at the Cannes Film Festival in 2004, COMME UNE IMAGE is director, writer and actress Agnes Jaoui's second feature film. Co-written by Jaoui and her longtime partner Jean-Paul Bacri, the film was warmly received by audiences in France and both Jaoui and Bacri play characters in the film: Jaoui plays Sylvia who is the main character's (Lolita) singing teacher and Bacri plays Etienne Cassard.

It's a clever, dark comedy with the title coming from a French expression, 'sage comme une image'. This 'good as gold' ideal is one that Lolita rebels against in the film, which Jaoui describes as the 'tyranny of beauty'. Jaoui and Bacri offer a critique of a society obsessed by celebrity and image, yet they are themselves household names in France, which perhaps gives them some inside knowledge of the dangers of fame.

The film is part of the IFI's back catalogue and comes with study guides to help students and teachers reach a deeper understanding of the film, while providing the opportunity for appreciation and critical interaction with the film.

"We're doing an Arts week in Pobalscoil Inbhear Sceine in Kenmare and wanted to screen high quality French films," said Majella Gafney-Murphy, a teacher at the school. "We attended the Kerry Film Festival last year and really enjoyed the screening so decided to get in touch to see if they could help out and we're delighted that they did - we're really looking forward to the screening of COMME UNE IMAGE in The Carnegie on Wednesday, April 13th."

Interested teachers are encouraged to contact Kerry Film Festival on 066 712 9934 to book places for students. Tickets are available at €5 per student.

Kerry Film Festival Announces Winning Films

The 2010 Kerry Film Festival Award Winners are:
Children’s Audience Award, THE END IS NIGHT, James Cotter
Audience Award, CHRISTMAS SWIM, Keith Mannix
Best Animated Short, THE POLISH LANGUAGE, Alice Lyons & Orla McHardy
Best Documentary Short, IF THESE WALLS COULD TALK, Anna Rodgers
Best Irish Short, RUNNERS, Rob & Ronan Burke
Best International Short, DROP DEAD, Arne Toonen
Best Short Film / Best Director, PASSING, David Freyne

The Kerry Film Festival, which is celebrating eleven years of bringing film to Kerry, announced the winning films from the 2010 edition of the festival. Dave Fanning was MC at the Awards Ceremony, which took place at 2:00 pm in Siamsa Tire in Tralee on Saturday, November 6th.

The Award Ceremony was the culmination of a week of films at Kerry Film Festival, which began on Saturday, October 30th. The winning films were selected by Kerry Film Festival's adjudication panel which included Noel Pearson, Jane Seymour, Tomm Moore and James Marsh and by the audience at the festival.

The adjudicators and audience had the unenviable task of selecting the best films from the festival. Over five hundred and fifty films were submitted to the 2010 Kerry Film Festival, up significantly on the total number of films submitted in 2009 and more than double the number of films submitted in previous years. 92 short films screened in total at the 2010 Kerry Film Festival.

"This was the best selection of short films I've ever seen screened together, let alone had to adjudicate," said Noel Pearson. "It was very tough to choose a single winner."

The Best Animated Short Film, as adjudicated by Tomm Moore, was Alice Lyon's and Orla McHardy's THE POLISH LANGUAGE.

Tomm is one of Ireland’s leading filmmakers and he was Oscar nominated earlier this year for his debut feature, THE SECRET OF KELLS. Tomm was a guest at Kerry Film Festival in 2009 and, in a move that built on an ever-increasing collaboration with the Institute of Technology, Tralee, he delivered a guest lecture to more than 150 students in the I.T. These were joined by students from local secondary schools who wanted to learn a little more about animation from an Oscar nominated director!

Tomm chose THE POLISH LANGUAGE for, "Its always surprising, inventive and technically virtuoso use of a wide array of animation techniques that added a dimension of visual poetry to the written poem. It also expands our understanding of the Polish culture and its people's history as much as the language itself. It's a beautiful short and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did."

The Best International Film category was adjudicated by Jane Seymour. Jane is a multiple Emmy and Golden Globe winner, recipient of the Officer of the British Empire (OBE) in the year 2000, which was bestowed upon her by Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace. She has proven her talents in virtually all media, the Broadway stage, motion pictures and television while her love of art and colour has led to her great success as a painter in watercolours and oils and also as a designer.

The Best International Short, as chosen by Jane Seymour, was DROP DEAD and Jane had this to say about the film, "I chose DROP DEAD because it was original and perfectly fit the short story format. The characters, acting, directing and script were all excellent. It was unique and told its story with a refreshing sense of humour!"

The Best Documentary Short, which was selected by James Marsh, who won the Oscar for Best Documentary this year for the brilliant film MAN ON WIRE. James had this to say about the documentary short films, "All the films submitted were diverting and enjoyable. Special mention should go to two films. BYE BYE NOW was a charming, playful and poignant evocation of a bygone era and a much loved and sadly obsolete piece of street furniture. THE HERD was one of the shortest films on offer but it managed to quickly and sharply evoke the relationship between mother and son alongside the relationship of a confused deer with a herd of cows.

My favourite, however, and thus the winner, was IF THESE WALLS COULD TALK.

Of all the films submitted, this short film was the most inventive in its use of the documentary form and showed a real sense of cinema in its camera movement and compositions. It also maintained an intense and unsettling atmosphere. Its content was simple and powerful. We listened to the fragmented recollections of troubled minds as we beheld the crumbling ruins of an institution which, mercifully, belongs to a different era and a different way of thinking."

The next film to be honoured was Rob and Ronan Burke's RUNNERS which was selected as the Best Irish Narrative Short. The winning film was selected by Noel Pearson.

Noel has been a film and theatre producer in Europe and the US for more than 25 years. His theatre productions of DANCING AT LUGHNASA (1991–1992) and AN INSPECTOR CALLS (1993–1994) collectively won eight Tony Awards.

In 1989 Noel produced his first feature film, MY LEFT FOOT, starring Daniel Day-Lewis, Brenda Fricker and Ray McAnally, directed by Jim Sheridan. It was nominated for five Academy Awards, winning two Oscars ®. THE FIELD in 1990 was his next production, it was nominated for an Oscar and two Bafta Awards.

1998 saw Noel produce the film version of DANCING AT LUGHNASA and, more recently, in 2007 he produced HOW ABOUT YOU. He has also produced four successful documentaries. During this year and next, Noel intends to produce Sebastian Barry’s critically-acclaimed THE SECRET SCRIPTURES with a screenplay by Johnny Ferguson.

The Kerry Film Festival Audience also had its part to play at the Awards ceremony, with CHRISTMAS SWIM, by Keith Mannix, picking up the Audience Award. The Award came with a prize of 1,000 euro, sponsored by the John Moore foundation. There was also a Children's Audience Award which went to THE END IS NIGHT, by James Cotter.

The final prize of the evening and the most prestigious going to a short film was The Kerry Film Festival Best Short Film / Best Director Award and this was also adjudicated by Noel Pearson. It came with a cash prize of 500 euro and was kindly sponsored by Cork Film Centre.

The Kerry Film Festival Best Short Film / Best Director Award, as adjudicated by Noel Pearson went to David Freyne, PASSING. Noel had this to say about the winning film, "I think PASSING is a beautifully simple story, it's wonderfully shot and acted and, while it was difficult to decide, I think it's the best film in a very good collection. I wish David Freyne the very best of luck. In fact, I want to wish all of the directors the very best of luck. And, who knows, maybe one day soon we may work with one or two of them!"

The Maureen O' Hara Award, which acknowledges women that have demonstrated outstanding leadership in their respective fields in film, was presented to Juliette Binoche at the ceremony. The Award was made by Killarney Crystal.

All awards were presented at the Kerry Film Festival Awards Ceremony, which took place in Siamsa Tíre on Saturday, November 6th at 2:00 pm.

For more information on the Kerry Film Festival, please log onto www.kerryfilmfestival.com or call 066 712 9934.

Kerry Film Festival is supported through grant aid from The Arts Council, Kerry County Council, Failte Ireland and by the generous support of more that 70 small businesses in Kerry.

KFF to host county-wide Photography Exhibition

Dún Chaoin by Lanka Haouche Perren

Kerry Film Festival (KFF) will be pretty as a picture during the month of November as it opens a new exhibition featuring the work of over 30 photographers. Photography is an integral part of filmmaking and KFF decided to hold the competition to highlight how fundamental photography is to filmmaking. The exhibition is the result of an open submission process with more than 30 photographers submitting more than 250 photographs. Submissions came in from all over Ireland and as far away as Alaska and Maine in the US.

In a new departure Kerry Film Festival has partnered with Bank of Ireland and will utilise its widespread branch network to display the selected photographs all over the kingdom.

"We're delighted to partner with Bank of Ireland," said Jason O' Mahony, director of Kerry Film Festival. "The bank has a wide network of branches which will allow us to reach into all corners of Kerry. KFF is one of the most geographically dispersed film festivals, not only in Ireland, but in the world with screenings in Tralee, Killarney, Listowel, Kenmare, Dingle and Waterville and it's great that we can have an equally broad reach with the photography competition."

Jim Maher, branch manager of Bank of Ireland, Tralee is also delighted to be involved. "I hold Kerry Film Festival in a high regard for all the work they do all over Kerry. As a bank we value the opportunity to get involved in community based organisations. We hope that by using our branch network this new venture will provide a platform for art across the county and, hopefully, across the whole country in future."

Mayor of Tralee Arthur Spring will officially open the competition on Wednesday, November 3rd at 2:00 pm in the Tralee branch of Bank of Ireland. The exhibition will run during the Kerry Film Festival in Tralee and will then tour selected Kerry branches of Bank of Ireland.

"The photography competition was a huge success," said Mike Foley, Kerry Film Festival coordinator. "The quality and variety of photographs received was simply astonishing. We were absolutely thrilled with the work submitted and pleasantly surprised that work came in from all over Ireland and abroad. We had two very broad themes, Portrait & Action and Landscape & Wildlife, to encourage people to take part. I'm looking forward to the opening on November 3rd."

Given the amount of work submitted, selecting the pieces for the exhibition was no easy task and Kerry Film Festival enlisted the skilful eye of Andre Corvin, a top fine-art photographer based in Dublin to help with the process.

"We've worked with Andre in the past," added Mike, "and always found him to be an amazing professional. His fine art photography is outstanding. Andre is known nationally and has wide critical acclaim."

All selected photographs will be professionally mounted and framed and the exhibition will open in the Tralee branch of the Bank of Ireland on Castle Street. The framing of winning photographs is kindly sponsored by O' Meara Fast Framing Service in Tralee Shopping Centre. The exhibition will open at 2:00 pm on Wednesday, November 3rd and runs until Wednesday, November 23rd. It will then begin its county-wide tour.

Juliette Binoche to Receive Maureen O' Hara Award

The Kerry Film Festival, which is celebrating eleven years of bringing film to Kerry, today announced that Juliette Binoche is to receive The Maureen O' Hara Award at the Kerry Film Festival, which runs from 30 October to 6 November. The award is named in honour of one of the most glamorous leading ladies of Hollywood’s golden era, Maureen O' Hara.

"We're absolutely delighted to award this year's Maureen O' Hara Award to Juliette Binoche. Juliette is an amazing actress whose talent has been recognised on the global stage. She has won a myriad of awards for acting all around the world, including the Venice Film Festival and this year's Cannes Film Festival. Juliette was also presented with an Oscar by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences," said Maureen O' Hara. "Juliette is, however, more than simply a stunningly beautiful woman and a brilliant actress; she has also displayed a devotion to a variety of good causes. I am absolutely delighted that Juliette will accept this award and I wish her the very best in her future career and, more especially, in life."

"The Kerry Film Festival is thrilled to present Juliette Binoche with the Maureen O' Hara Award," said Jason O' Mahony, Kerry Film Festival Director. "She is a wonderful actress and is a true leading light. In addition to her work in film she has worked tirelessly to overcome human rights abuses and is an active supporter of many worthy causes. Her role, in particular, in securing acclaimed Iranian director, Jafar Panahi's, release from prison earlier this year is worthy of mention. We're delighted that Juliette will be on hand to pick up the award at this year's Kerry Film Festival."

Juliette Binoche first attracted the attention of international film critics with THE UNBEARABLE LIGHTNESS OF BEING (1988). Roger Ebert, the world renowned film critic from The Chicago Sun-Times wrote that she was, "almost ethereal in her beauty and innocence."

Binoche, however, pushed the boundaries of her craft with an appearance in Louis Malle's DAMAGE (1992) and, a year later, in Krzysztof Kieslowski's THREE COLOURS: BLUE (1993), which was a massive critical success, garnering Binoche the César Award for Best Actress and the Venice Film Festival Award for Best Actress.

After a sabbatical from film-making to become a mother in 1994, Binoche was selected as the heroine of France's most expensive movie ever, THE HORSEMAN ON THE ROOF (1995). Following that she won an Oscar ® for her role in THE ENGLISH PATIENT (1996).

More recently she has starred in CACHÉ (2005), THE FLIGHT OF THE RED BALOON (2007) and CERTIFIED COPY (2010), for which she received the Best Actress Award at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival, making her the first actress to win the three most prestigious European awards for acting.

While Maureen O' Hara was undoubtedly one of Hollywood's best loved actresses, she was much more than just a pretty face. When Maureen became an American citizen on January 25, 1946 she retained her Irish citizenship, which was the first time in history that the United States government recognized an Irish citizen as Irish and it led to a change in process for all Irish immigrants. Maureen was also the first female CEO of an American airline company. Whether in the movies, in politics or in business Maureen demonstrated a quality for leadership and a bravery that was extraordinary and Juliette Binoche displays many of the same characteristics.

The Maureen O' Hara Award acknowledges women that have demonstrated outstanding leadership in their respective fields and Juliette Binoche is a most worthy recipient. The award giving will take place at the Kerry Film Festival Awards Ceremony in Siamsa Tíre in Tralee on Saturday, November 6th at 2:00 pm.

The Award Ceremony is the culmination of a week of films at Kerry Film Festival. The Awards ceremony will also feature the screening of award winning short films as adjudicated by Kerry Film Festival's panel of judges that include Oscar ® nominated producer, Noel Pearson, Oscar ® nominated director, Tomm Moore, double Golden Globe ® winner, Jane Seymour, and Oscar ® winning director James Marsh.

KFF Receives a Record Number of Entries

Steph Green's New Boy, KFF 2007

The Kerry Film Festival (KFF), which is celebrating 11 years of bringing film to the people of Kerry, was inundated with short films for its upcoming festival. 541 films were submitted for the short film competition, with films coming from 38 different countries across the globe. The increase in submissions is testament to the work being done by the festival in both the promotion of Irish films abroad and the promotion of short-films in general.

KFF has partnered with a number of film festivals in other countries and the approach has paid dividends with the festival securing more entries than in previous years. The partnerships have also provided a perfect way for KFF to screen Irish films abroad.

"This will be the eleventh year of the Kerry Film Festival and both the quantity and quality of the films has increased every year," said Jason O' Mahony, Festival Director. "We received 541 short films this year, which is up almost 20% on last year. We've had films from as far away as Argentina and South Africa and as close to home as Cork and Killarney and we're absolutely thrilled with the response."

Festival staff now face the difficult task of whittling those 541 films down to the 60 or 70 films that will screen as part of the festival. "It's part of the fun of the job," says O' Mahony. "With such a huge number of entries the selection process will take some time but it's already well under way. We received close to 200 films from Ireland with more than 300 films coming from abroad so competition for places will be very tough, particularly given the quality of the films. It seems to rise every year!"

Films that are lucky enough to be selected will play during the Kerry Film Festival which runs from October 30th to November 6th this year. Screenings take place all over Kerry but Siamsa Tire in Tralee will be the main hub of the festival.

"We're very lucky in our partnership with Siamsa," adds O' Mahony. "It's an amazing venue and filmmakers absolutely love to have their work screened there. The venue is top-class. The screen and sound system are top-class. And the staff is always so helpful and friendly that we're really looking forward to all the screenings that will take place in Siamsa this year!"

Once the films have been selected by the festival panel, they will compete with one another for a number of prizes that will be judged by both festival attendees and a select group of film adjudicators.

"We've lined up a stellar panel of adjudicators to help select the winning films. James Marsh, the Oscar winning director of MAN ON WIRE and Tomm Moore, the Oscar nominated director of THE SECRET OF KELLS, will adjudicate the documentary and animated short films respectively."

Kerry Film Festival is quickly becoming one of the hottest small festivals on the scene, giving audience members a chance to see films by up and coming directors as well as an opportunity to interact with some of the most established names in the world. The festival also screens a number of features, while its education programme alone saw more than 2,000 students from all parts of Kerry attend screenings in 2009.

"Last year was a huge success, in terms of both the numbers of screenings and the audience that came," added O' Mahony. "But we're pretty confident that 2010 can even top that."

Bits & Bobs - all the Irish Film News worth Reporting!

Bits & Bobs - all the Irish Film News worth Reporting!
Celebrating Ireland’s Home Movies Saturday August 21st 12-4pm
In the first Irish event of its kind, the IFI have invited amateur filmmakers to share their celluloid memories with the public. Some of the most interesting films in the IFI Irish Film Archive collections were made by non-professional filmmakers.

Irish Baywatch coming to RTÉ 2
Mission Beach USA, a reality show about eight teens from Ireland who spend part of their summer in Fort Lauderdale training to be lifeguards is currently being made for RTÉ 2.

His & Hers Scoops Traverse Film Festival Prize
Ken Wardrop’s IFTA winning feature has claimed the Best Non-Fiction Foreign Jury Award at the Traverse City Film Festival in Michigan.

ESSENTIAL KILLING, which is co-produced by Element Pictures is to receive its world premiere screening at the upcoming 67th Venice International Film Festival

Nemeton Teo is currently enrolling for an intensive TV Presenters Course to be run over four consecutive days in its television studio.

'Every Second Sunday'
Hubbard and Banks Media goes into production with short film ‘Every Second Sunday’ this weekend. Starring Simon Delaney (Zonad) and Lee Ingleby (Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban) it will shoot in Dublin and Bray. Simon Hubbard (Jack) is the writer/director of the project with Fergal O'Hanlon (Yu Ming is Ainm Dom) on board as director of photography.

The short film will start production this coming Saturday, August 14th. Fergal O'Hanlon will be shooting the project on RED.

Neil Jordan Adapting ‘Skippy Dies’ Irish Shoot Planned
Neil Jordan has begun adapting, and will be directing, Skippy Dies, a feature film that will shoot in Ireland.

‘Horses’ Ride to Grierson Nomination
The feature documentary ‘Horses’, from writer/director Liz Mermin (The Beauty Academy of Kabul, Shot in Bombay), has been shortlisted for the Best Cinema Documentary award at the Grierson Awards which will take place on the 2nd November in London’s BFI Southbank.

Irish female screenwriters wanted for thesis research

Film Fest Deadlines
The deadline for the http://www.clonesfilmfestival.com/, which takes place from 20-24 October, is 31 August 2010

Exposed Film Festival has extended its deadline to August 27, 2010

News from the Galway Film Centre

The Galway Film Centre is offering discounts on the following selected courses:
7 Weekend Film Foundation
4 Weekend Documentary Making

Check out other great upcoming courses & talks at the Galway Film Centre.

Industry Vacancies
Information on all vacancies is also available on IFTN's jobsite

Big Mountain Productions are looking for a Series Producer and Assistant Producer
Deadline 16-08-2010

Windmill Lane Pictures Ltd are looking for Modellers, Texture Painters, Lighting TDs, TD Generalist, CG Effects TD, VFX Production Coordinator, Compositors & Rotoscope Artists and Matchmover.
Deadline 08-08-2010

A Dublin based Production Company is looking for a Production Assistant.
Deadline 09-08-2010

Nemeton TV is looking for a Sports Producer
Deadline 13-08- 2010

Tyrone Productions is looking for an Edit Producer
Deadline 13-08-2010

KFF to screen films at Soho Shorts Festival

The Kerry Film Festival (KFF), which is celebrating 11 years of bringing film to the people of Kerry, has partnered with a number of film festivals across the globe in an effort to promote the best Irish short films. This partnership has paid dividends and is a perfect means for KFF to screen films from the brightest up and coming Irish filmmakers in overseas venues and festivals.

The Rushes Soho Shorts Festival 2010, which is based in London, takes place from Wednesday, 21 July to Friday, 30 July and will screen 6 films from KFF 2009 at a number of venues throughout the city.

"It's great that these films will screen in London as it offers fantastic exposure for both the filmmakers and for the Kerry Film Festival," said O' Mahony. "This is our first year partnering with the Soho Shorts Festival and we're hoping that it's the beginning of a beautiful friendship! We're also delighted for the selected filmmakers because it's a ringing endorsement of their films!"

Filmmakers are also impressed with the work put in by Kerry Film Festival to promote and champion their films abroad.

"Kerry Film Festival is the film festival which just keeps on giving! It was a wonderfully warm experience with the staff and organisers genuinely concerned about ensuring that we, the film makers, had a wonderful time," said Irish Filmmaker, Declan Cassidy.

"The award I won there has commanded a lot of respect in promoting the film to industry and other festivals. But it didn't stop there. Festival Director, Jason O' Mahony, has forged an extremely impressive network with other festivals and he worked tirelessly to promote my film to them. As a result my film played in a number of festivals it would not have otherwise reached and, to my surprise and delight, the film picked up another award at one of these in Italy. Kerry Film Festival is the kind of festival you want to go back to again and again."

The films selected for the Soho Shorts Festival include CARDBOARD BOY, which was directed by young Kerry filmmaker, Kelley O' Sullivan. Also included are UNCLE BILL'S BARREL by Eoin Ryan; the brilliant animated IT'S ALL ABOUT GEORGE by Roy Lecane & Don Field, which recently won a festival award at the Chicago Irish Film Festival; GOD AND NAPOLEON by Ciaran Deeney; LONG IS THE WAY by Eoin Heaney and the Oscar nominated, GRANNY O'GRIMMS SLEEPING BEAUTY, by Nicky Phelan.

The 6 shorts films will screen 3 times over the course of the week on Friday 23 July at 16:00 in Curzon Soho; on Tuesday 27 July at 13:00 in the Tenderproduct Basement and on Thursday 29 July at 14:00 also in Curzon Soho.