Good Time Charlie

Some very good news has come in about Charlie Casanova, the film I edited in March & April 2010 which was put together via Facebook with a budget of €1, 000 (yes, a mere one thousand yoyos). The film has been picked up for UK and Irish distribution by the highly respected distributor STUDIOCANAL, a member of the Canal+ Group and formerly known as Optimum Releasing, all names familiar to lovers of European and non-mainstream cinema. Optimum/STUDIOCANAL have been involved with such acclaimed films as Guillermo del Toro's Pan's Labyrinth, Kathryn Bigelow's The Hurt Locker, Paddy Considine's Tyrranosaur, Darren Aronofsky's The Wrestler, Thomas Alfredson's Tinker Tailer Soldier Spy and Jacques Audiard's A Prophet, among many others.
See http://www.studiocanal.co.uk/ for more details about this company and its film catalogue.
Charlie Casanova will have a cinema release in Ireland and the UK sometime in 2012 which is an amazing achievement for a flick with such humble beginnings. It is a testament to the energy and commitment of Terry McMahon, its writer, producer and director.

Before this, Charlie Casanova blazed a trail through the festival circuit and picked up a number of awards along the way. It was selected for this year's SXSW (South By South West) film festival in Austin, Texas and it was the first Irish film to receive this honour. Its lead actor, Emmet Scanlan, won the Best Actor award at the ECU European Independant Film Festival in Paris, it won Best Feature and Festival Pick at the DMV International Film Festival in Washington DC and it won the joint Best First Feature award at the Galway Film Fleadh*. It was selected for screening at numerous cinematic shindigs including the Edinburgh International Film Festival (where it had three sold out screenings), Brisbane and Dublin Underground Film Festivals and, more recently, the 56th Cork Film Festival. Phew!

* Fleadh is the Gaelic word for festival and is pronounced 'flaah'.

More information from these links:

http://www.corkfilmfest.org/2011/films/42/charlie-casanova

http://www.iftn.ie/news/?act1=record&only=1&aid=73&rid=4284071&tpl=archnews&force=1

http://www.irishfilmboard.ie/irish_film_industry/news/Irish_Feature_Charlie_Casanova_Scoops_Two_Awards_at_Washington_Festival/1686

Long time no blog...

It's been a while since I posted anything and for that, many apologies and no excuses. A lot has been happening since March so I'll get stuck in.

At the moment I'm in the middle of editing Kelly+Victor, a film written and directed by Kieran Evans  and adapted from the novel by Niall Griffiths. The film is produced by Janine Marmot (Hot Property Films London) and is co-produced by Andrew Freedman (Venom Films Dublin) and is supported by Film Agency Wales, the Irish Film Board, FilmFour and Domino Publishing. I'm editing the film in Venom's cutting room in Ranelagh, Dublin, and I'm at about the half way stage in the editing schedule.

It was shot over four weeks in Liverpool from late August 2011 and I had a great experience there despite the hard work & long hours. It was my first time to visit the city which is slightly absurd since it is close to Dublin in more ways than one. I fell in with the spirit & the craic of the place straightaway, thanks to Chris Taylor, Dave McCabe, Spud Murphy and the rest of the gang. The crew were all great gas and the banter was non stop even while working under the typical conditions of low budget film production. It was an intense and special time, to say the least. The film was shot by the young yet incredibly unflappable cinematographer Piers McGrail on the Arri Alexa system and he has done a fantastic job, as always.

Links:
Irish Film & Television Network (IFTN) article
Hot Property Films
Kelly+Victor: review of novel
Article by Niall Griffiths about the filming of Kelly+Victor