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Huston School of Film & Digital Media host Director John Carney

By History, Learning, Local Interest, Movies, News, Participation, Partners, Press, Production

 

Award-winning film director John Carney to speak in the Huston School of Film & Digital Media on Thursday March 30, 2.30pm

John Carney was born in Dublin and was educated at De La Salle College Churchtown and at Synge Street CBS. He was bassist for Irish rock band The Frames between 1991 and 1993 and also directed some of their music videos. In addition to shooting music videos, Carney also wrote and directed two award-winning short films (Shining Star and Hotel) before making his first feature. With fellow film-maker Tom Hall, Carney wrote and directed November Afternoon, his first feature film, in 1996. Despite a limited release, it was acclaimed as the “Film of the Year” by the Irish Times.  John wrote, directed and scored his next project, the hour-long TV film Just In Time, starring Frances Barber and Gerard McSorley. The Irish Times voted it Best TV Film of 1998.

Carney’s next film was the edgy drama Park, which premiered at the Dublin Film Festival. Two years later, in 2001, he co-wrote and directed On the Edge. The film starred Cillian Murphy and Stephen Rea and was released through Universal Studios. He was awarded the Silver Hitchcock Award for On the Edge at the 2001 Dinard Festival of British Cinema.

Carney returned to TV writing and directing during the same year. He co-wrote and co-directed (with his brother Kieran Carney and Tom Hall) the hugely successful RTÉ TV series Bachelors Walk. The independently produced TV series proved the most successful in Irish television history. The series ran for three seasons. In 2006, Carney directed the feature movie Once. First screened at the Galway Film Fleadh, Once had its official world release at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2007 and won the World Cinema Audience Award in the category Dramatic. A low-budget affair shot for only $160,000, Once was hugely successful, grossing $7 million worldwide in its first 3 months of release. Legendary film-maker Steven Spielberg is quoted as saying, “Once gave me enough inspiration to last the rest of the year.”

As writer and director of Once, Carney won the Most Promising Newcomer award in the Evening Standard British Film Awards 2007 and the film went on to win an Academy Award for Best Original Song. It has since been adapted as one of the most successful theatrical musicals of recent years, including award winning runs on Broadway and the West End. Subsequent films directed by Carney have enjoyed considerable critical and commercial success. Begin Again (2013) grossed over $63 million worldwide (it is the most-watched independent film of all time in South Korea) and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song for “Lost Stars”. His most recent film, the Irish set coming of age musical Sing Street (2016), was nominated for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy at the 74th Golden Globes in January 2017.

ALL WELCOME

#GalwayCityofFilm

Culture Night 2015

By Enjoyment, Entertainment, Local Interest, Movies, Music, News, Participation, Press, Screenings, Visit

Galway Film Centre.

Under the banner of UNESCO City of Film, are delighted to be hosting a screening of short films from Galway and the 4 other UNESCO Cities of Film on Culture Night Friday 18th September in the Galway City Museum.

 

Short films will be screened from Bradford-UK, Sofia-Bulgaria, Busan-South Korea and Sydney-Australia and they will be an eclectic mix of short documentaries and fictional tales reflecting the personality of the 5 cities. The event will be held in the Galway City Museum’s Education Room from 5.15pm until 8.30pm and the films will be screened on a loop over the evening.

The running order for the evening will include films from:

Galway

Contact – 6.33mins – Dir. Laura Poortenga

Brief Lives – 5.33mins – Dir. Anna Downes

Knitted Memories – 3.45mins – Dir. Mary Fitzpatrick

Bradford

Spare Key – 6.33mins – Dir. Ross Birks

Busan

Bus Stop – 4.38mins – Dir. Park Soo-Min

Sofia

Botev is an Idiot – 8.51mins – Dir. Deyan Bararev

Ginka – 13.13mins – Dir. Antonia Milcheva

Sydney

Flat Daddy – 15.26mins – Dir. Matt Holcomb

See the official Culture Night website for more Culture Night information.

GALWAY CITY MUSEUM
SPANISH PARADE
GALWAY
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#Bradford City of Film  #Busan City of Film   #Sofia City of Film   #Sydney City of Film

 

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Designation Announcement

By Entertainment, Local Interest, Movies, News, Partners, Press, Unesco, Visit

Galway UNESCO City of Film


A permanent global legacy for the creative industries of Galway.

 

On Dec 1st, 2014 UNESCO Director-General, Ms Irina Bokova announced that Galway has been designated a UNESCO City Of Film. Under the UNESCO Creative Cities Network, Galway is now one of only five cities in the world to achieve this much sought-after status. Galway joins Sydney, Australia and Galway’s twin city of Bradford in the UK as a designated City of Film. This is a permanent global designation. This status brings the highest internationally recognised standard of excellence in the creative industries to Galway. The title of Creative City of Film also includes membership of UNESCO’s Creative Cities Network.

Galway Film Centre in association with Galway City and County Councils drove the bid process which started two years ago. The final bid submission on behalf of the consortium of over 50 organisations drawn from across Galway city and county was submitted in March 2014. Following a fiercely competitive evaluation process, sixty three cities worldwide were shortlisted by UNESCO to fifty cities with twenty making the final selection, one of which was Galway, which won the highly prestigious and permanent title of UNESCO City of Film.

Galway, now formally joins the UNESCO’s Creative Cities Network as a designated UNESCO City of Film. This permanent status and designation gives Galway immediate access to a global platform, joining over sixty cities worldwide including major metropolitan and cultural centres such as Sydney, Seoul, Shanghai, Montreal, Buenos Aires, Berlin and Edinburgh. Galway’s twin city of Bradford in the UK was the first city to be awarded the title of UNESCO City of Film in 2009.

The UNESCO Creative cities network seeks to develop international cooperation amongst cities that have identified creativity as a strategic factor for sustainable development. Galway city and county already boast an impressive, healthy and growing film and TV industry, worth in the region of €72m to the local economy and employing over 600 people full time. Such international recognition, propels Galway into an impressive worldwide network, opening new opportunities in the world of film and TV. UNESCO city of film presents Galway with hugely positive economic, creative and artistic opportunities, sharing in a vast international resource while fostering worldwide cooperation for sustainable urban development.

Speaking in response to the announcement, Mayor of Galway, Cllr. Donal Lyons, said:

I am absolutely thrilled on behalf of the city of Galway and would like to thank and congratulate everyone who has been involved in this successful bid. This is fantastic news for the film, TV, artistic and cultural community, and of course the city and region as a whole. It reflects so positively on Galways strong heritage of film and acknowledges our current level of creative activity, pointing to a bright future for the production, promotion and appreciation of film in Galway and the West.”

The Mayor went on to note:

The designation of Galway as a UNESCO City Of Film will, of course, add to and enhance our international status as a creative city and will be enormously beneficial to our bid to be named European Capital of Culture 2020. Galway is now recognised internationally for our quality of artistic work and engagement, which is testament to all those working in this creative vibrant and lucrative film and TV sector.”

Cathaoirleach of Galway County Council, Cllr Mary Hoade, joined the Galway City Mayor by saying:

This designation shows how a determined group of people, supported by statutory and other bodies, can come together and show the world what a fabulous, creative and resourceful place Galway is. I would like to thank UNESCO and also ensure our active participation in the creative cities network and reiterate our commitment to the further development and support of the film and audio visual sector in Galway.”

Galway UNESCO City of Film announcement comes on the back of a hugely successful week for the Galway Film Centre which held its annual Film and TV seminar on Thursday and Friday. This year’s seminar hosted heavy hitters from the world of Film and TV including Beau Willimon creator and show runner of the hugely successful Netflix drama series House of Cards. Gub Neal former head of Channel 4 drama and producer of the hit series The Fall. Claire Jennings BAFTA winning producer of Coraline and The Curse of the Were Rabbitt amongst many others leading names.

A visibly delighted Declan Gibbons, manager of Galway Film Centre, said:

This is hugely significant for Galway to be honoured and awarded the UNESCO City of Film status and it has already opened doors for us. I travel to the Houses of Parliament in London on Tuesday morning (2nd December) to meet the Director General of the BBC, the Head of Sky Arts, the CEO of the BFI as well as Michael Palin and Terry Gilliam as part of a UNESCO event organised by Bradford City of Film. If we hadn’t gotten the designation I would not be going. This will open so many opportunities for Galway that it is actually quite overwhelming.”

The process involved a formal application which was submitted in March 2014 in a bid led by Galway City Council and Galway County Council and facilitated by Galway Film Centre. The application went through a lengthy evaluation process involving international experts, research centres, universities and international associations specialising in urban development, culture and creative industries.

Over 50 organisations were involved in the Galway bid which was co-ordinated primarily by Declan Gibbons, Galway Film Centre, Lelia Doolan, Galway Picture Palace and Dr Jenny Dagg and The Creative Edge Paroject at The Whitaker Institute, NUI, Galway. Other key players involved were Galway County Council Arts Office, Galway City Council Arts Office, Bord Scannán na hÉireann / The Irish Film Board, Galway Film Fleadh, GMIT, Údarás na Gaeltachta, Abú Media, Creative Europe Desk Galway, Cinemobile, Huston School of Film & Digital Media as well as many local producers and production companies.

Galway’s twin city of Bradford in the UK was the first city to be awarded UNESCO City of Film and Galway is only the second Irish city to be recognised by UNESCO. Dublin won UNESCO City of Literature in 2009.

Galway now celebrates this historic achievement and looks forward to the next chapter as a world centre of excellence and creativity.

 

Images by Andrew Downes – Xposure