The Colonel's Prime Cuts

Time for the glad rags...

2012-02-06T22:51:00.000Z

In a few days I will be live on Irish television accepting the Best Editing Award for Charlie Casanova at the Irish Film and Television Academy's 9th Awards Ceremony which is to be held in Dublin on the 11th of February 2012. Or alternatively, I will be escorted from the building after destroying a television camera, five seats and a plate glass door as a result of a humungous freakout after not getting the award. Either way, it'll be rivetting telly. Here's the link to the IFTA page for yiz
http://www.ifta.ie/nominees/editing.html

Seriously though, it is an amazing achievement to be nominated for my contribution to the beast of a film that is Charlie Casanova and also that it received nominations for Best Director, Best Film, Best Script and also garnered a nomination for Rising Star for its lead, Emmett J. Scanlan.

To maintain the buzz, Citadel has been selected by the wonderful SXSW Film Festival in Austin, Texas, for its world premiere next month. That's the second notch to my SXSW bow as Charlie Casanova (him again) was screened there last year. A wonderful surprise and a huge boost for its director, Ciarán Foy. Check it out here
http://sxsw.com/node/9912

About bloody time!

2012-02-04T22:29:00.002Z

There's nothing like being up to the minute, is there? And, since I am nothing of the sort, here's a couple of advertising related things I worked on in the latter half of 2011. The first is an interactive web malarkey for the clothing mob ASOS which features amazing street dancers, body poppers, break dancers and a troupe of Morris dancers (joking about the last lot there) all doing marvelous moves while allowing the user to click away with a rich interactive experience, don't you know. You can go to ASOS Urban Tour to have your own giddy way or you can watch the linear version here

I had the pleasure of working with the lovely Alex Ogus in Paris on a commercial for Societé Géneral, produced by Stéphanie Huguenin for Irène Productions with the agency being my old friends at Fred and Farid. The advert is for a bank card that offers free music downloads and is a timely reminder to develop one's beatboxing skills in case one encounters wolves who are into deep house. Regardez-vous ici!

Good Time Charlie

2011-11-21T14:54:00.001Z

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...

2011-11-06T18:32:00.000Z

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

Yeee-haw!!!!

2011-03-09T22:46:00.000Z

CHARLIE CASANOVA - he's a fighter not a lover....
The big news is that Charlie Casanova has been selected as one of eight films (out of a total submission of 984 films) to be in the Narrative Feature competition in the 2011 SXSW Film Festival in Austin, Texas. This is a huge coup for the film and is truly exciting news indeed. The festival starts this Friday 11th March and Charlie Casanova will be screened three times, the first (its world premiere) will be on Sunday 13th March at the State Theatre on Congress Avenue. Naturally, I have my fingers crossed for the film and for its writer, producer and director Terry McMahon.
You can look at the competition line up at http://sxsw.com/film/screenings/film_lineup
The trailer is viewable on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSVCEJRWg0c
Facebookers go to https://www.facebook.com/pages/CHARLIE-CASANOVA-THE-MOVIE/294033936394

If you have even more time on your hands then you can read Terry's own account of how he came to make the film on IndieWire

http://www.indiewire.com/article/2011/03/07/meet_the_2011_sxsw_filmmakers_charlie_casanova_director_terry_mcmahon#

Vimeo killed the ramio star...
I have set myself up on Vimeo where a selection of my film and music video editing work can be seen - go to http://vimeo.com/user1457770 . I will, of course, be adding more clips regularly.
It just keeps getting better
I had the enormous pleasure of seeing Crossing Salween (see earlier posts) on the lovely big screen in the Irish Film Institute as part of the Irish Film Board Short Film Programme during the recent Dublin International Film Festival. It looked and sounded absolutely lush, thanks to the gorgeous cinematography of Richard Kendrick and the stunning score by Steve Lynch. You can see the trailer at
http://www.redragefilms.com/page.php?intPageID=25

Lisa Vandegrift Davala's film, For Peace Comes Dropping Slow..., has been selected for competition in the New Hope Film Festival in Pennsylvania, USA. I had the pleasure of editing this film in her beautiful artist's studio in a remote part of County Sligo last August.
https://www.facebook.com/pages/New-Hope-Film-Festival/281255329939

The long and the short.

2011-01-13T21:42:00.000Z

Best wishes for 2011, my faithful reader(s).

Some news about Crossing Salween, a 20 minute short film directed by Brian O'Malley, produced by Gary Moore through Red Rage Films, Dublin, and edited by myself.

This week Crossing Salween was screened twice at the Flickerfest Short Film Festival in Sydney as part of their international programme. Flickerfest is an Academy Accredited Short Film Festival as well as Bafta recognised event. More info at http://www.flickerfest.com.au/

Crossing Salween has also been invited to take part in the 2011 Berlin International Film Festival. The film will screen three times during the festival which runs from February 10th-20th. The film is part of the 'Generations' programme which focuses on short and feature films with a child as the main protagonist, and the programme will screen a total of 59 films from 32 countries. Crossing Salween is part of the Generation 14plus programme in the festival. You can read the press release at

http://www.berlinale.de/en/presse/pressemitteilungen/alle/Alle-Detail_8212.html

Go to the film's web page and watch the trailer at

http://www.redragefilms.com/page.php?intPageID=25

and have a gander at its Facebook page at

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Crossing-Salween/126262327441090?v=info

Here's a recent article about Citadel, a feature film which I am currently editing in Dublin.

http://www.irishfilmboard.ie/irish_film_industry/news/Big_Freeze_Fails_to_Chill_Production_on_Irish_Feature_Film_CITADEL/1488

Giant bird ahoy!

2010-12-14T11:59:00.001Z

Here's a link info about to Roadkill, the Syfy Channel creature feature that I edited for Johannes Roberts (Director of F: out soon on DVD). The film will be finally finished this week when the sound mix is done.

http://rhitv.com/in-production/roadkill

There's no business like snow business.

2010-12-02T13:57:00.000Z

Here's a picture of The Colonel's Shedit® covered in a rosemantic blanket of snow. Awwww sweet.

However I am not in my Shedit® at the moment because I am cutting a feature film in Glasgow amidst the snow and slush and Scotch and stuff. More details later, edit pickers.

Crossing Salween didn't win the best Irish short film gong at the Cork Film Festival recently but it was one of only two shorts which got a special mention. The film was praised for its narrative ambition and flair. The other film that was singled out was David O'Reilly's The External World to which the Colonel gives 5 stars, and insists that you go check it out if you can. I saw lots of great shorts at the festival, including Thomas Hefferon's The Pool, Domhnall Gleeson's Noreen and Shoe by Nick Kelly. Have a look at
http://www.corkfilmfest.org/

There's going to be a screening of Charlie Casanova at the Sugar Club on Monday 6th December. Sadly I'll miss it because I'll still be in Glasgow. Have a look at the film's Facebook page.
http://www.facebook.com/pages/CHARLIE-CASANOVA-THE-MOVIE/294033936394

Greetings, my public!

2010-11-09T22:52:00.000Z

It's been a while since my last post due to me being very busy and also because I kept forgetting to log on and blog on. But there's lot of news to push out the pipeline of breaking news. The premiere of Crossing Salween (directed by Brian O'Malley and produced by Gary Moore at Red Rage Films) will be on Saturday 13th November at 4pm at the 55th International Film Festival which is very exciting as I haven't seen the final grade and sound mix. The film is very topical as it is about the dangers a young Karen girl experiences due to the severe persecution of her people by the Burmese military regime.

The UK premiere of a 12 minute film I edited in the wilds of County Sligo called For Peace Comes Dropping Slow will be at the Northern Ireland Foyle Film Festival on the 26th of November. It was directed by artist Lisa Vandegrift Davala and is inspired by the poetry of W. B. Yeats.

For Peace Comes Dropping Slow

I have just finished editing the 'creature feature' called Roadkill for the Syfy Channel: it is in the stages of adding CGI, visual effects and sound design. It was directed by Johannes Roberts whose film F was on release in the UK recently - have a look at http://www.gatlin-pictures.com/ - the producer of Roadkill was Adrian Sturges and the post production & animation was done at Windmill Lane in Dublin.

The Colonel's Cottage de Montage

2010-08-25T21:42:00.000+01:00

Here's a picture of my edit shed, otherwise known as a shedit, where I edited Charlie Casanova and Crossing Salween. I'll post pictures of the inside when it's been tidied up, whenever that will be...

Run for the hills!

2010-08-25T19:39:00.000+01:00

Following on from the last post (buried with full military honours) I was lucky enough to be selected to be the editor of a feature length TV supernatural horror movie which started shooting this week. It is called 'Roadkill' and is being produced for RHI Entertainment US http://rhitv.com/ - the film will be premiered on the SyFy Channel sometime next year. This is really exciting as 1. it's my break into long form drama work 2. it'll feature really cool CGI animation of a huge pissed off mythical bird creature 3. there'll be lotsa gore and 4. the cast are very attractive. Before they become mythical bird creature snacks, that is. The film is being shot, edited and post produced in Ireland and I'll be on board until early November (it says here) - the production company in Dublin is Hubble (Parallel) Films and Windmill Lane will be doing the post production and animation. I got the first day's rushes today and did an assembly of two scenes, one featuring the scariest fortune teller I've ever seen.

Forward in all directions!

2010-08-13T12:22:00.000+01:00

A recap of a busy summer: I spent April and May at home cutting the feature film Charlie Casanova (written, directed and produced by Terry McMahon). Set in contemporary Dublin, it's about a charming yet dangerously manipulative character and the havoc he wreaks on his friends' lives as his character becomes more and more out of control. It's being graded at the moment prior to the finished titles being added so it'll be ready for viewing in a few week's time. I'll be cutting trailers for the film next week.

I also cut a short 20 minute film written and directed by Brian O'Malley and produced by Gary Moore at Red Rage Films Dublin. The film was funded by the Irish Film Board and was shot on location in Thailand. It is set among the Karen people of Northern Burma who have suffered persecution by the Burmese military regime for decades and it features an amazing performance by a very young girl called Mai in the central role. It is about to go into grading and sound mix in the next month.