Film festival puts Dingle at heart of a thriving industry

DINGLE was swarming with film pundits last weekend for the Dingle International film Festival.

The peninsula which became internationally famous as the backdrop to Ryan’s Daughter, last weekend played host to filmmakers and animators from across the globe. With employment numbers in Irish Film and Animation set to double in the next five years, the festival potentially places West Kerry in a pivotal position in this development.

West Kerry film-makers are also beginning to make their mark on the national scene, among them Cian O’Connor whose short film, ‘Pathways’ was screened during the festival. Meanwhile, four of the eight films in the Kingdom Short film section had West Kerry involvement, including actors Elaine Ní Chinnéide and Moya Farrelly, oarsmen and boat builders Breánndán Ó Beaglaíoch and Breándán Ó Muircheartaigh who featured in a film about their cultural exchange with Baddeck, Cape Breton. This section also featured residents of the Camphill community in Dún Síón who starred in the beautifully shot moving film “walk in My Shoes” by dancer and Ballyferriter resident Zoe Ui Fhaolain and camerman Mikey Kelly from Castlegregory.

At a ‘chin wag’ session in McCarthy’s bar, Dingle resident and distinguished casting director Ros Hubbard strengthened the link between Dingle and Hollywood in her conversation with film director Kirk Jones. The following day Dingle man and film-maker Aodh Ó Coileáin chaired a discussion on film documentaries in Mc Carthy’s, which admirably filled the role of festival hub this year.

On the other side of town, the Dingle Hub provided the venue for a ‘claymation’ workshop where children worked in teams, under the direction of instructors from animation company Paper Panther, to create stories around characters they modelled out of clay. The young participants were unanimous in their appreciation of the workshop. Hilary Byrne from Ventry who fashioned a puffer fish playing the piano described the workshop as “really cool”. Diarmuid ó Ciardhúbháin from Scoil Naomh Erc added: ”Is breá liom na rudaí seo”.

Animation Dingle, which runs alongside the film festival, was a hive of activity with over 650 invited guests taking part in workshops and networking events with industry leaders such as Pixar, Nickelodeon and Disney.

FESTIVAL AWARDS

Audience Choice Awards at Dingle IFF 2019: Best Feature: Dark Lies The Island, Directed by Ian FitzGibbon

Best Short: The Vasectomy Doctor, Directed by Paul Webster (winner of Físín Award 2012)

Winner of the 2019 Big Pitcher: Deborah Christie Tan, IT Tralee Animation Student

Winner of Fisín competition: Niamh Lawlor

Photo by Declan Malone Grant Korgan and his wife, Shawna, (right) with Dr Jimmy Lynch his wife, Caroline Dooley, and mother, Bebe in the Phoenix Cinema on Sunday night after the screening of the film ‘The Push’, which chronicled Grant’s trek to the South Pole following a devastating spinal injury.

Photos by Declan Malone Dingle Film Festival Director Maurice Galway (right) at the Animation Dingle charity auction in Nellie Fred’s on Saturday with Animiation Dingle Director John Rice of Jam Media. John is from Abbeydorney but his roots go back to the Rice House in Dingle. RIGHT: Dingle-based Ros Hubbard with film director Kirk Jones in McCarthy’s bar where they took part in a Film Festival ‘chin wag’ on Friday. INSET: Fisín organiser Tor Cotton in St James’s.