New Courses at Galway Film Centre

The good folks at Galway Film Centre have come up with another couple wonderful courses for all you budding filmmakers out there!

Visual Screenwriting- Limited to 8 places
This workshop, tutored by Mark McIlrath, is aimed at writers with treatments or screenplays. It's an excellent opportunity to look at your story from a completely new perspective. The tutor will work with you by email prior to the course to develop your ideas!

The first step will be to look at your story in terms of Sequences. Next, the Dramatic Structure and the key images in your story will be examined. This will include looking at the motifs, symbols and metaphors and asking why they are necessary, how you’re using them, and how you can develop a coherent Image System which layers the themes of your film. Participants will be asked to take basic digital photos, and present the story through stills using Power Point (similar to Chris Marker’s La Jetée). Help will be given, if needed, in the use of Power Point.

Date: 3 Days, May 14, 15, 16
Fee: €295 unwaged/€315 waged. Prices include membership for year.
Members who have done a course within the last year: €225 unwaged/€234 waged. Members who haven't done a course with us in the last year: €250 unwaged/€260 waged

What are Treatments & Step Outlines?- Limited to 8 places
What are they? Why are they necessary? What they are not? The workshop will look at how the Industry uses Treatments and Step Outlines and what producers and funders expect. Is there an Industry standard or is it about what works? What about length? This workshop is aimed at scriptwriters who feel they’d like to understand these formats better. This workshop will involve in class exercises.

Date: 4 hours, Friday May 13 (11am – 3pm)
Fee: €65 unwaged/€75 waged.
Those that have done a course with us within the last year: €58.50 unwaged/€67.50 waged

To apply or for more info, contact Mary at education@galwayfilmcentre.ie or phone 091-770748.

Galway Film Fleadh to screen best in Irish and World Cinema

The 22nd Galway Film Fleadh will take place from July 6 to 11 and lovers of cinema will enjoy a feast of films as Ireland’s leading film festival rolls out a selection of world cinema, feature documentaries, Irish premieres and short films. The festival which annually attracts 15,000 cinema lovers will showcase eight world premieres, 53 Irish premieres, 100 Feature Films and 115 Short Films.

Award Winning Actress Annette Bening will give the Actor’s Masterclass and participate in the prestigious Public Interview in the Town Hall Theatre on Sunday July 11. Filmmaker, producer, journalist and activist, Lelia Doolan is the subject of the Irish Tribute and will take part in a special interview in the Cinemobile on Saturday July 10 while renowned screenwriter Sir Ronald Harwood and acclaimed director Stephen Daltry will give the Screenwriter’s and Director’s Masterclasses respectively.

The Festival will open with the screening of My Brothers which tells the story of three brothers’ eccentric quest to replace their dying father’s tacky watch. The 22nd Galway Film Fleadh will close with the screening of The Messenger which boasts an Oscar nominated performance from Woody Harrelson.

The Festival will screen an array of international features and ones to note include The Double Hour, a mysterious thriller with brilliant performances and great twists, the wonderful animated feature The Illusionist which explores the relationship between an aged magician and a young girl and The Kids are All Right which stars Annette Bening and Juliette Moore and was the most talked about film at the 2010 Sunday Film Festival.

The Men Who Will Come is a majestic film about a communities experience of the Second World War, El Secreto de Sus Ojos is the deserved winner of this year’s Oscar for Best Foreign Film while The Unloved is a remarkably assured film about a young girl in care which is inspired by her own experience. The Fleadh will screen Toy Story 3 and the screening will be attended by the film’s renowned director Lee Unkich and producer Karla K. Anderson.

It has been a great year for new Irish Cinema and this is reflected by the quality of Irish films on offer at the Fleadh. Irish features include Come On Eileen which stars Keith Allen and Noel Fielding of the Mighty Boosh fame, The Runway which recounts the story of a west Cork community coming together to help a Cuban pilot return home and Snap a taut suspense filled psychological drama about three generations of family poised to repeat the mistakes of the past.

Sensation showcases the acting talent of Domhnall Gleeson, All Good Children is a richly observed story of a childhood haunted by trauma while Outcast which stars James Nesbitt tells the story of a mother and son who use magic to stay hidden. Lovers of thrillers will enjoy Rewind while Between the Canals follows the life of three inner city Dublin criminals. The Looking Glass, Where the Sea Used to Be and Seaside Stories are but a selection of the Irish films on display.

Quality documentaries abound in this years’ Fleadh. Don’t miss the Irish produced The Pipe which describes the tensions of Rossport and the pressures and fractures within the Shell to Sea Campaign. Steam of Life explores the cultural phenomenon of how Finnish men interact with each other in saunas; Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work is a hilarious and revealing documentary of how this American icon deals with financial troubles.

The heroes of Men Who Swim invest all their mid-life neurosis into their hobby: synchronized swimming while Counting Sheep, by Galway-based filmmaker, Dieter Auner is a tender and beautifully observed documentary on Romanian rural life. Burma Soldier tells the powerful story of a Burmese soldier who risks everything to become a pro democracy activist, lovers of cakes will really enjoy Kings of Pastry while Monica and David explores the marriage of two adults with Down Syndrome and will be followed by a panel discussion chaired by Fergus Finlay.

Glimpses of Galway is a fascinating programme of silent films from the Irish Film Archive which were made in Galway and will be brought to life by pianist Elaine Brennan.

Lovers of short films will not be disappointed as the Fleadh will screen a mixture of animation, documentary and fiction shorts and short filmmakers will compete for several prestigious awards. As part of it’s Out on Film Strand the Galway Film Fleadh will once again promote the best in gay and lesbian films.

Tickets for all screenings are available from the Town Hall Theatre in Galway (Tel: 091 569777/www.tht.ie). The Full Festival Programme is available online.

Annette Benning at Galway FIlm Fleadh

The Galway Film Fleadh/Hubbard Casting in association with Fás Screen Training Ireland are delighted to announce that Annette Bening will deliver the Actors Masterclass at the 22nd Galway Film Fleadh.

Annette Bening was born in Topeka, Kansas and raised in San Diego. She graduated from San Francisco State University and began her acting career with the American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco, eventually moving to New York where she acted on the stage. Renowned for her ability to take characters into deep, unexpected, emotional places, Annette’s years of study culminated in a Tony-nominated performance in Tina Howe's Coastal Disturbances, a New England-set summertime saga in which the newcomer starred as a passionate, free-spirited young photographer on a beach vacation.

Her formative theatrical years also included starring roles in Shakespeare, Chekhov, and other classic dramas at the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego, the Colorado Shakespeare Festival, and the Denver Centre Theatre Company, where she spent a year in 1985.

Early in her movie career, she made an impression as a wise-beyond-her-years sex kitten in The Grifters (1990) which earned Annette a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination. She went on to demonstrate her versatility by portraying nurturing, supportive wives in Guilty By Suspicion (1991) and Regarding Henry (1991) before returning to a more seductive role opposite future husband Warren Beatty in Bugsy (1991), earning a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress for her portrayal of the tempestuous and uncontrollable girlfriend of doomed gangster Bugsy Siegel, Virginia Hill. And though she never lost that cunning, brainy, sex appeal, she became more often associated with complex, professional women on the verge of self-destruction in darkly humorous dramas like American Beauty (1999), Being Julia (2004) and Running with Scissors (2006).

After appearing in Tim Burton's odd sci-fi comedy Mars Attacks! (1996), Annette starred alongside Bruce Willis and Denzel Washington in the controversial thriller The Siege (1998) and teamed with Aidan Quinn as a psychic with connections to a killer in Neil Jordan's In Dreams (1999). In 1999, she gave a stellar, career-defining performance as the domineering real estate broker married to a man in a midlife crisis in the acclaimed American Beauty (1999). For her characterization of the tightly wound, image conscious, suburban overachiever, Annette earned nominations from the Academy Awards as well as the Golden Globes.

She earned some of the best reviews of her career the following year when she starred as a diva stage actress caught up in a May-December romance with a young social climber in Being Julia (2004), a bravura turn that earned the versatile actress a Golden Globe award and an Oscar nomination.

Annette was most recently seen on the big screen in writer-director Rodrigo Garcia's Mother and Child, starring alongside Samuel L. Jackson and Naomi Watts. She will next be seen in Focus Features' The Kids Are All Right, opening July 7th, in which she plays opposite Julianne Moore and Mark Ruffalo

The Master Class will take place in the Radisson Hotel, Galway (date tbc) and costs €50. Please apply online at www.screentrainingireland.ie. For further information please contact Bronagh Keys at 091-562200 or email: masterclasses@galwayfilmfleadh.com or contact Criona Sexton/Sorcha Loughnane at FÁS Screen Training Ireland, 01 6077437/016077468.
Please note places are limited. Deadline for applications: Friday the 25th of June.

Scriptwriting Clinic at Galway Film Centre

There's a new scriptwriting clinic starting at Galway Film Centre.

The four day course will look at how to develop a story idea. It is aimed at both emerging and experienced screenwriters working on their feature film screenplays. It is also aimed at emerging script editors.

The class is limited to four writers and two script editors and offers a great experience for emerging writers and script editors to work intensively on their stories with a professional script editor. It will cover the basics such as wants and needs, objectives, obstacles, rising action and ideas on sequencing and structure.

All participants read each other's treatments prior to the course commencing. Mark McIlrath is a script editor who works on feature film projects in Ireland, Italy, France and the UK. Each editor works with 2 writers during the course.

What participants say about this course:
As one of the script editors on the course, I was lucky enough to witness Mark work first hand with a number of writers on their chosen projects. What struck me was the simple and relaxed approach he takes which inevitably leads to invaluable round table discussions where no opinion is ever overlooked. As a guiding light, Mark helps to define and solve problems in regard to structure, character, theme and plot without ever substituting his own voice for that of the writer. His years of experience shine through and I still use his teachings in my own writing today. Highly recommend for any writer who wants to bring their project to the next level, and then some.
Matthew Roche (Writer of TILL DEATH DO US PART, Winner of RTE/Filmbase Short Script Award, 2009)

Mark's course is hugely educational and beneficial, whether you are interested in pursuing story editing or simply gaining more insight into your own writing. And Mark stays in touch after the course is over, providing highly useful tips and guidance. He is a friend and mentor as much as he is a a teacher.
Shane Perez (Writer of BLOOD AND SAND, Winner of London Independent Film Festival Best Screenplay, 2009)

How to apply:
Writers interested in this course will need to submit a CV and treatment/story outline to education@galwayfilmcentre.ie by 23rd April.

Guide length for treatment is 3 to 10 pages. 10 pages is the maximum allowable.

Editors need to submit a CV to education@galwayfilmcentre.ie by 23rd April.

Galway Film Centre & RTE 2010 Short Film Awards

Galway Film Centre wants applications for the 2010 RTE/GFC Short Film Awards. The awards will be given to the two best original scripts for a short drama. Designed to promote filmmaking throughout the regions, the scheme, funded by RTE, is open to filmmakers from all over Ireland. The winners will receive a production fund of 9,500 euro each, as well as the use of facilities from the Galway Film Centre. The winning films will be screened twice by RTE.

Only one script per applicant is acceptable so please submit your strongest choice and all applicants must be members of the Galway Film Centre. If you think you have a good idea for a short film then now is the time to start writing!

The closing dates for applications is 5pm Friday 26th February 2010

For further information and an application form contact the Galway Film Centre on 091 770 748 or email info@galwayfilmcentre.ie

New Courses in Galway Film Centre

New courses in Galway Film Centre include:

Advanced Camera Course - Hi-Def XDCAM and Digibeta
This course will introduce participants to these broadcast quality cameras, through a series of practical lighting exercises, based on documentary and magazine style shooting techniques. The transfer software of the XDCAM 700 (new required shooting format for RTE), which records onto card, will also be demonstrated. The course is suited to those who have experience of shooting on other formats.

About the tutor:
Ger has worked on features films such as King Arthur, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (camera assistant/operator). He also shot the award winning TV series In the Name of the Fada. Other work includes U2 Slane Concert DVD, Hands (RTE Documentary), The Rainbow Children, Calcutta (TG4 Documentary), Eddie (TG4 Documentary), St Isidores, Rome (TG4 documentary) and outside broadcast work.

Dates: 1 weekend, 10th & 11th October
Fee: 220 unwaged / 260 waged (includes membership to the Centre)
Tutor: Ger Conway
Class size: Strictly limited to 6
Contact: education@galwayfilmcentre.ie or 091-770748 for further information or to book.

Michael Fassbender to host Actors Masterclass at Galway Film Fleadh

The 21st Galway Film Fleadh and the Galway Film Centre, in association with Fas Screen Training Ireland, are delighted to announce that award winning actor Michael Fassbender is the subject of this year's Actors Masterclass.

The Master Class will take place on Saturday, July 11th and will be facilitated by leading casting agents, Ros Hubbard and Mary Maguire. The Class is open to all aspiring and budding actors and those interested should submit a CV to Mary Deely in the Galway Film Centre, Cluain Mhuire, Monivea Road, Galway. For further information please call 091 770748 or email masterclasses@galwayfilmfleadh.com

The Galway Film Fleadh will pay tribute to Michael Fassbender who is fast becoming a very respected Irish actor. He recently had main roles in two of the twenty films in competition in this year's Cannes Film Festival. These were INGLORIOUS BASTERDS, directed by Quentin Tarantino and FISH TANK, directed by Andrea Arnold. This in itself is quite an achievement.

Michael played Lt. Archie Hicox in Quentin Tarantino's INGLORIOUS BASTERDS and there is an ironic twist to this as his first acting assignment, 15 years ago, was in a stage version of Tarantino's RESERVOIR DOGS.

Within that fifteen-year interim, Fassbender has established himself as a serious actor, learning his craft through Band Of Brothers, Colin Bateman's MURPHY'S LAW and playing the part of Esme in Francois Ozon's wonderful ANGEL.

Little prepared the uninitiated for Fassbender's breakout, multi-award winning performance in Steve McQueen's stunning HUNGER. Fassbender only appears in the final two acts of the movie yet his portrayal of hunger striker, Bobby Sands is so complete, alive and dynamic that his performance possesses the movie.

He lost 40 pounds for this role, as the latter half of the movie chronicles Sand's physical disintegration. This is in contrast to his role as Stelios in Zack Synder's 300, the previous year, where he played a Spartan warrior.

As part of the Fleadh's tribute to Michael Fassbender, HUNGER will screen on Friday July 10th.

Christopher Hampton to give Screenwriters Masterclass at the 21st Galway Film Fleadh

The 21st Galway Film Fleadh and the Galway Film Centre, in association with Northern Ireland Screen, have just announced that Christopher Hampton will give a Screenwriters Master Class at this year's Fleadh , which is open to all budding and experienced writers.

Christopher's most recently released film, Atonement, won Golden Globe and BAFTA Awards for Best Picture. Cheri, directed by Stephen Frears, premiered at the 2009 Berlin Film Festival.

His other screenplays include The Quiet American, Mary Reilly, Total Eclipse, Dangerous Liaisons, Carrington, The Secret Agent and Imagining Argentina, the last three of which he also directed.

Prizes for his film and television work include an Academy Award, two BAFTAs, a Writer's Guild of America Award, the Prix Italia, a Special Jury Award at the Cannes Film Festival, Hollywood Screenwriter of the Year 2007 and The Collateral Award at the Venice Film Festival for Best Literary Adaptation.

Christopher Hampton's plays, musicals and translations have garnered three Tony Awards, two Olivier Awards, four Evening Standard awards and the New York Theatre Critics Circle Award.

He has written a wide range of award winning plays including The Talking Cure, White Chameleon, Tales From Hollywood, Les Liaisons Dangereuses, Treats, Savages, The Philanthropist and Total Eclipse.

Christopher Hampton also wrote the book and lyrics (with Don Black) for the musicals, Sunset Boulevard and Dracula, and the libretto for the Philip Glass operas, Waiting For The Barbarians and Appomattox.

To honour the presence of Christopher Hampton at the festival, the 21st Galway Film Fleadh will screen Atonement, Imagining Argentina and The Quiet American.

The Master Class will take place on Thursday afternoon, July 9th in the Radisson Hotel, Galway. Atonement will be screened in the morning. For further information or to apply for a place, contact Mary Deely at 091-770748 or masterclasses@galwayfilmfleadh.com Those interested should submit a CV/Biography. The masterclass costs 50euro.