How our very DIFFerent festival sent Emer’s film to sky rocket
A space documentary that’s out of this world
WHEN Emer Reynolds was a child, she wanted to be an astronaut. All she ever did was to stare into the skies, wishing she could be up there.
Sadly her space career was not to be but her film making one has certainly sky-rocketed thanks to her documentary The Farthest. Last year the film, detailing the journeys of Voyager 1 and 2 through space, won the AUDIence award at the Dublin Film Festival.
This helped The Farthest take off around the world, much to Emer’s delight.
‘I’ve had a massive love of space and science since I was a child,’ she says. ‘I wanted to be an astronaut. I used to spend hours on our farm just staring up into space, literally thinking of tumbling through space and imagining what was out there.
‘So when we were talking about making the film it was easy for me to see that it was such a fantastic story, it’s not an understatement to say it was humankind’s greatest story of exploration ever and it had never been made into a feature film.
‘We pitched it and got a lot of support very quickly — it was a long time to make, four years from script to screen.’
Last year’s premiere at ADIFF was, she says, nerve-wracking.
‘It was The Farthest’s very first outing as a film,’ Emer reveals. ‘We were really nervous but the audience was great.
‘It was wonderful to show the film to an audience for the first time in our home town.’
But there was more good news — as part of the festival, audiences vote for their favourite film and one wins the AUDI-ence award. And luckily for Emer, last year it was the turn of The Farthest.
‘Audience prizes in general at all festivals are much-coveted as they are not from a jury but from people watching the films,’ Emer says.
‘And winning this gave us such a boost. It meant there was a great wind behind the film and it gave it a platform. It was the beginning of a fantastic journey for The Farthest.’
The film won two further accolades at last year’s event and then premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival.
‘We have been all over the world with the film now — from France and Spain to Sydney and Stockholm, all over America,’ Emer says. ‘This month we are showing in Colorado, Texas.
‘We have basically spent the whole year on a whirlwind tour of the world. We’ve been enjoying the life of The Farthest, it’s quite an emotional film and it really touches audiences in their hearts so it has been very rewarding to see that happening after such a long journey to make it.’
Having a film festival in Dublin is extremely important for filmmakers from Ireland and beyond and Emer says ADIFF has helped her with her next venture.
‘I am almost ready to reveal it,’ she says. ‘But the AUDI-ence prize itself is gorgeous and because of it I am going to the Berlin Film Festival to meet with other filmmakers, funders and producers and go to a premiere or two. So it is giving me a chance to promote my next work and get funding for my future career.
‘Winning the AUDI-ence prize really has given us a great bounty. There’s a buzz about the film,. people want to see it so that was really like winning the jackpot.’
Over the course of the festival, stars from the screen and from behind the camera will be gathering for films, talks, exhibitions and more, kicking off on Wednesday with Black 47, the new film from Lance Daly.
This year there is also a special conference on virtual and augmented reality, entitled Immersive Stories.
Focusing on the future of immersive entertainment, the conference will be curated by Eoghan Cunneen, a senior software engineer at Lucasfilm in San Francisco.
Speakers will include Solomon Rogers, founder and CEO of Rewind, Niamh Byrne, manager of virtual band The Gorillaz and Pink Kong Studios co-founders Aoife Doyle and Niamh Herrity.
Here, we take a look at some of the festival highlights.
BLACK 47
BLACK 47 is set during the famine and stars Hugo Weaving, James Frecheville, Stephen Rea, Moe Dunford and Barry Keoghan,
The story centres on Feeney, an Irish Ranger fighting for the British army abroad, convinced he has been hardened by the horrors he has encountered in conflict.
But nothing prepares him for the sights that meet him when he returns home. Many of the actors will be in attendance for the gala performance.
THE DELINQUENT SEASON
MARK O’ROWE is better known as the screenwriter behind hits such as Intermission and Boy A. But this is his directorial debut, a character-driven drama which revolves around two couples who live in suburban Dublin.
On the face of it, Jim and Danielle and Yvonne and Chris enjoy stable, happy marriages. But the cracks begin to appear when one of the couples has an altercation. It’s a tale of love and human nature that asks how well can we ever really know each other?
The film stars Andew Scott and Cillian Murphy, who is rumoured to be one of the special guests at the festival, so if you are looking to rub shoulders with him, this might be the ideal spot. The film is set to be shown in the Lighthouse Cinema on March 3.
JOURNEYMAN
AFTER his impressive debut Tyrannosaur, Paddy Considine is back as writer/director and this time he’s also starring in the film.
He takes the on role of Matty Burton, a middleweight boxing champ who is nearing retirement. Following a big fight against a formidable and controversial opponent, Matty suffers a delayed, devastating reaction, and faces a battle unlike any other in his life.
This has been somewhat of a labour of love for Considine, a lifelong boxing fan, who will attend the screening on March 3 in the Lighthouse Cinema.
DAMO & IVOR: THE MOVIE
THEY became a viral hit on YouTube before making it to the small screen. Now Damo And Ivor, the most unlikely siblings, hit the big time with this feature-length version of their antics.
Written by Andy Quirke, aka Damo, the new adventure sees them searching for yet another brother. but unbeknownst to Damo, Ivor is also hoping to reunite them with their mammy.
Damo himself will be at the screening on March 2 in Cineworld and we wouldn’t be surprised to see a former Miss World in the audience on the night either.
O The ADIFF runs from Wednesday until March 4. For more information, see diff.ie