2009 Corona Fastnet Short Film Festival Archive

Festival Programme 2009

Click here to download a PDF of the printed programme from the 2009 Film Festival.

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Film Festival 2009

INTRODUCTION

The Fastnet Short Film Festival was conceived following several successful film screenings as part of the “Art in Schull” events in previous years. An initial discussion was held in September 2008, after which a small committee was formed to investigate the possibility of holding a film festival of some kind in 2009. Despite research indicating that a time scale of at least one year would be required in order to set up even a small festival, the committee decided that they would attempt to set up an event to take place in Schull in May 2009, allowing approximately 7 months.

A steering committee was formed, and a general meeting was held in the Harbour View Hotel in Schull on 16th September to which all interested parties were invited. Twelve individuals attended. A pattern of meetings followed, with a general committee meeting almost every week on Tuesday evenings, with a Steering Committee meeting every Sunday evening. Most general meetings were attended by between twelve and twenty individuals.

The purpose of the Festival was determined in the early stages. This was to provide a forum for short film makers to screen their films to a public audience, to attend workshops, screenings and discussions with established film makers, and to enjoy the special environment offered by West Cork and Schull in particular. It was considered that such an event could only benefit the community by bringing in visitors at a time of year that is usually very quiet for hotels, restaurants, bars, and other businesses.

It was decided to limit the length of the films to a maximum of 15 minutes, and to canvas entries by circulating all Irish and UK educational establishments with film or media studies courses with invitations to submit films. A website was created containing all instructions and material that would enable potential submissions to be made.

The committee debated the idea of Awards, some members feeling that competition was not the purpose of film making, but it was decided that the Festival should offer modest prizes, if sponsorship could be arranged, in order to encourage entries and to enhance the “Festival” element of the event.

The committee then set about organizing the following elements of the Festival:

1 Inviting a list of Patrons

2 Fundraising

3 Inviting Submissions

4 Inviting established film makers to attend

5 Determining venues for events

6 Drafting a programme of events.

7 Creating workshops prior to and during the Festival.

8 Ticketing policy and Box Office set up

9 Canvassing local support

PATRONS

Members of the committee had personal contacts with a number of well-known names in the entertainment business, most of whom had local connections. These individuals were approached with invitations to support the Festival by agreeing to add their names to our list of Patrons. All agreed to this proposal with enthusiasm, and an impressive list of Patrons was quickly established. This support from such distinguished individuals gave the Festival a huge advantage, particularly in the fundraising area.

FUNDRAISING

The committee felt that this would be the most difficult area both to predict and to achieve. A draft budget was produced; this had rather a daunting effect. However, various fundraising schemes were put in place, starting with a recruitment of “Friends of the Festival” at €50 per member. This eventually provided over 40 supporting members with the attendant financial gain to the Festival.

Local businesses were approached for support, offering a “Corporate Friends” category at €250, and larger negotiable subscriptions for sponsorship deals and award contributions. Response from local businesses was disappointing, although three signed up for Corporate Friends. We are certain that support from local businesses will be far greater next year, now that the beneficial effect of the Festival have been experienced by local enterprises.

Various approaches were made to businesses with whom committee member had personal contact, and this met with far greater success. The Festival gained great financial and moral support from a number of prominent County Cork businessmen, from a highly successful London film production company, and from several local philanthropists known for their keen involvement with local arts projects.

An approach was made to the Arts Council for a grant, but it was discovered that the application was too late for inclusion in this year’s budget.

The approach to Ian McDonagh, the Arts Officer for Cork County Council was much more productive; Mr McDonagh was highly supportive of the project from the beginning, and was able to persuade his committee to offer valuable funding to the Festival. The support of Cork County Council was a turning point in the fundraising process, following their commitment it became easier to convince other potential donors to support the event.

To summarise; the raising of funds was not as daunting as we had supposed. Local fund raising events were highly successful in raising funds and in raising the Festival’s profile. The budget was trimmed down to a figure that we considered possible to raise, and we trimmed the projected expenditure to match.

INVITING SUBMISSIONS

We approached all educational establishments in Ireland and the UK that had film or media studies departments with invitations to submit films. It appears that our website had a considerable effect on recruiting submissions, as did the Festival entries in international Film festival directories (such as the Irish Film Institute) and the entries in You Tube and Facebook and similar highly popular internet sites. These entries undoubtedly spread the word outside Ireland and the UK, and we received entries from the USA, Australia, Denmark, and France.

A submission fee of €5 (£5) was imposed; in retrospect this proved to be insufficient to cover administration costs, postage, certificates, etc, and should be doubled in future.

A deadline for submissions was determined as 30th March 2009, allowing 6 weeks before the opening of the Festival. Within this time the films had to be logged, screened, listed, scheduled into the programme, transferred to the various compilation DVDs and offered to the Jury for evaluation. Again, in retrospect, this proved far from long enough, and at least 10 weeks should be allowed next year.

It was not possible to estimate in advance how many films we would receive, although we set a target of a minimum of fifty entries to make the festival work, this would have produced a total screening time of entries of over 6 hours with an average film running time of 7.5 minutes. As it turned out 89 films were submitted, with a total running time of over 11 hours. It was decided that it was important to screen all submitted films (unless either extremely bad or unacceptable in other ways) and in fact only one film was rejected for technical reasons.

We would consider the policy of screening all entries to be fundamental to our philosophy, and as we expect a much higher entry list to the 2010 Festival we will have to alter our screening timetable accordingly. At the 2009 Festival all submissions were screened twice, on different days, in order to allow more people to have a chance to view the films. In future this may have to be changes to one screening per submission, but with a properly programmed slot, advertised in advance.

The standard of entry was consistently high. The submissions ranged from highly professional budgeted productions with full crew and experienced actors, to no-budget productions with no resources except ambition and imagination. Entries broke down by nationality of origin as follows:

Ireland 71%

U K 21%

USA 2%

Europe 3%

Other 2%

INVITING ESTABLISHED FILM-MAKERS TO ATTEND

It was decided that the festival should, in order to underline the educational aspect of the event and to attract visitors, invite a number of respected film makers and media gurus to attend and if possible present either workshops or screenings of their chosen work, with an audience discussion to follow.

Through personal contacts of the committee the Festival was able to schedule the following well known figures to present their work:

Tony Barry (Producer/director RTE) Screening and discussion

Marita Conlon-McKenna (Children’s Author) Screening

Jim Sheridan (Director) Screening and discussion

Jack Gold (Director) Screening, discussion, & workshop)

Gerard Stembridge (Director, novelist) Screening and discussion

Kirsten Sheridan (Director) Screening, discussion, &

Workshop

Gavin Harte (Environmentalist) Screening

In addition the following Patrons took part:

John Kelleher (Irish Film Classification Board – Chairman, discussion groups)

Greg Dyke (Media executive and Commentator – Chairman, discussion groups)

Additional events were presented by:

Bite Sized Cinema (Short film distributors) Screening

Team D.A.D.D.Y (Film makers) Screening and workshops

Apple (Computer systems) Workshops

DETERMINING VENUES FOR EVENTS

The first decision regarding venues was made very early on. This was to obtain the services of the Irish Cinemobile, a state of the art mobile cinema administered by the Irish Film Institute. A provisional booking was made in October 2008, and the site was selected and surveyed as to suitability. The Cinemobile was a fundamental element in the Festival’s success; it is a first class piece of equipment, expertly run, and is in itself an attraction as well as being a fine and comfortable 100 seat cinema.

We originally planned to set up two supplementary cinemas, but this was reduced to one for budgetary reasons. The Screen 2, therefore, was set up in the function room of the Harbour View Hotel. This turned out to be an excellent choice, making a fine 150 seat cinema with excellent sight lines, and the equipment supplied by Cork Audio Visual Services was expertly run and produced first class results.

DRAFTING A PROGRAMME OF EVENTS

The programme was determined by the availability of venues. Given the lateness of the deadline for submissions, we were unable to produce a programme of events listing the individual films with screening times and venues. The films were broken up into blocks of approximately 1 hour each, and screened with 15 minute intervals throughout the days. A list of titles with precise screening times was posted each day at the box office, the Festival Production office, the Harbour View Hotel, and the Cinemobile. This however, did not satisfy all who attended, who for one reason or another were unable to view these timings, and efforts should be made next year to advertise all titles with screening times in the Festival programme.

The programme was expertly drafted by Committee members Maurice Seezer and Maria Pizzuti, who engaged local graphic designer Jonathan Parson to produce what has been universally agreed to be an outstanding piece of work. There is no doubt that the polished and professional standard of the Festival programme raised our profile and invested the festival with credibility. It was at the publication of the programme that we detected a sea change in local attitudes to our labours: at last it could be seen what we were attempting to do.

CREATING WORKSHOPS PRIOR TO AND DURING THE FESTIVAL

At the very beginning of this project the committee wanted to encourage local interest by setting up a series of film making workshops in the lead up period before the Festival. Tony Barry and Mark McCarthy took on the task, and produced a series of 8 weekly sessions in the Sailing Centre with a class of 12 students with a wide age grouping. There was much competition for places on the course, they could have filled every place 3 times over, but wisely decided to limit the classes. The committee had been asked to provide funding for equipment for the workshops; this was carefully considered as at this time we had raised very little funding, but the decision was made and 4 digital video cameras and 2 computers with editing software were purchased. This has proved to be an excellent investment. The workshops produced 3 excellent short films, and the films were screened at a special event at the Festival and a prize was presented to the most popular production.

It is our intention to continue the workshops in the autumn of this year, and to attempt to make them self-funding at the very least. SEE WORKSHOP REPORT PAGE 13.

TICKETING POLICY AND BOX OFFICE SET-UP

The committee decided that as the Festival was aimed at young film makers, and that many people would have made a special attempt to travel to Schull to attend, that ticket prices should be kept to a minimum. It was decided that all submission screenings would be gratis, and that charges would only be made for workshops, special screenings, and audiences with our featured directors. Ticket prices were set at €10, (except for certain children’s events charged at €5) available on the day at the box office, with advanced booking only available to subscribed “Friends” as part of their privileges.

This system meant that the tickets were heavily subsidized by the sponsors. However, we feel that the system worked well, and encouraged large audiences for the submitted films, which was, after all, the purpose of the Festival. The pay-for-ticket events were also well attended, and provided some needed income for the festival. The committee sees no reason to change this ticketing philosophy, unless outside funding was to fall short of target in the future.

Sponsors, Patrons, and featured guests were given All Event Passes.

The Box Office was set up in Schull High Street and functioned efficiently throughout the period of the Festival as well as the lead up days, thanks to devoted volunteers.

CANVASSING LOCAL SUPPORT

The committee felt strongly that the benefit to the local community was as important to the purpose of the Festival as the screening of submitted films. In times of financial disruption and recessive patterns in the commercial world it is important to maintain a positive and ambitious attitude to community projects such as this. The area in which we live, as in many others, has come under threat from lack of fluidity in the financial markets, strongly dependent as we are on the income generated by visitors. We felt that such a project could be beneficial to the local economy, but only if we could engage local businesses and individuals to support us with the necessary enthusiasm.

Although we formed a devoted general committee core of 10 or 12 people, we felt at times that we were not making the necessary progress in recruiting support from the local community. We decided therefore that approximately 10 days before the Festival was due to start, we would advertise a special meeting for the whole community in Schull and surroundings, to explain what we were doing and to encourage support. All local businesses were targeted with flyers and emails, and a very successful evening was held at the Harbour View Hotel, with drinks and snacks, some explanatory talks from committee members, and a special screening of some clips from submitted films. This event was very well attended by the community, who immediately responded positively, and who resolved a plan for the cleaning and smartening up of Schull prior to the Festival opening. This they did in the days prior to the first day, and the combined effort of local traders and business people power hosed, scrubbed, and polished the town to gleaming perfection.

The village was decorated with bunting, and most shops and businesses entered the spirit of the Festival by renaming, on banners over their premises, after famous film titles.

Many visitors to the Festival subsequently commented on the strong sense of community spirit that had been created, and which without doubt created a very special feel to the Festival, unlike any other, that was directly attributable to the input and participation of the local community.

COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT

While we hoped to run a successful film festival, we also understood the importance of working within the community as a whole so we introduced ourselves to the various groups in the area i.e. The Schull Enterprise Association, The Tidy Towns Committee, The Town Council, Foaigre (Local Youth Association) etc. Their support was given willingly and their encouragement to us was warmly received.

Prior to May, Schull had major road and water works for many months disrupting traffic and creating a lot of dust through the main street in the town. The wear and tear on the properties became very obvious necessitating a clean-up prior to the Festival. Skibbereen Tool Hire donated a footpath washer and a pressure spray to hose down the buildings and Gubbeen Farmhouse Products donated the use of a jeep and water tank for the same purpose. The Gardai came on board helping to clear the street of parked cars. On Tuesday 12th May at 6pm, the weather gods smiled on the town as volunteers turned up to sweep up dust, hose down the buildings, put litter in bin-liners and put flags, banners and bunting. Young and old alike got caught up in the spirit of the thing as a carnival atmosphere prevailed. Three hours and a lot of laughter later we took the time to survey our efforts and marvelled at what could be done when people get together and do something, however large or small, for the benefit of their community.

It was suggested to all the premises on Main Street that if they would rename their businesses to the theme of a famous movie, the committee volunteers could make a banner of their choice for them. For example the Post Office was called ‘Il Postino’, Hacketts Bar became ‘Casablanca’ and Brosnan’s Spar became ‘Spartacus’. This turned out to be one of the most popular events with most of the premises getting involved. The following day, the committee and volunteers continued to decorate the town with colourful bunting and the Main Street Garden Centre loaned colourful flowering pots for the benefit of the Festival to brighten up the village.

While this major clean-up was taking place, it came to our attention that due to major cut-backs, Schull has had its street cleaning budget reduced from a 6-day to a 2-day week, every Monday and Friday. Upon hearing this everyone involved volunteered to ensure that they would sweep and clean outside their premises whenever necessary, again encompassing the spirit of the community.

In conclusion, the continued success of events as ours can only succeed with the help and support of the entire community. We are pleased to say that a very good foundation has been laid down with the various different community groups. This, we believe, will be the cornerstone to our continued success.

MARKETING CAMPAIGN FOR 2009

The strategic purpose of the Festival’s marketing plan was to show the ethos of the event, to build name recognition, and to create an expectation, through cumulative exposure to information on The Festival through all media, of a popular event that would receive optimal media attention, and create a strong brand image. This was done by securing a strong feature presence in print, radio, outdoor and web media. The campaign was built on advertising through both local and national avenues. The printed festival programme was also a key factor in presenting our brand identity.

Advertising framework as follows:

The Southern Star featured the Festival programme and the schedule of fringe events in the week prior to and week of the festival.

A radio campaign (total audience package) ran for 4 days in the run up to the Festival with 96fm; four ads per day over 4 days. 103fm provided a live link from Schull on both the first and last days of The Festival. (SEE ATTACHED DISK). In tandem, we ran promotional ticket giveaways on local radio stations. A regular network feature on RTE 1 with Marian Finucane broadcast an interview with Greg Dyke, one of our Patrons, during the Festival. There were several mentions in the run up to the event on Red FM, 98FM, 96FM and 103FM.

We provided a full Page in the Schull Guide with a print run of 10,000.

Outdoor Campaign:

Posters were displayed in all media schools and universities in The UK and Ireland, and at available outdoor advertising areas, mainly locally but also nationally. Links were created to over 40 websites including Facebook and Myspace, that received several hundred daily hits.

COMPLIMENTARY PUBLIC RELATIONS ACTIVITY

The Press releases that were constantly fed to press media, updating the general public on all new newsworthy items, had great success in National and local newspapers. (SEE ATTACHED FILE OF PRESS CLIPPINGS).

The Film Festival was launched at The Crane Lane Theatre on Thursday April 16 at “The Cinematographer’s Party”. Invitees included local business people from Cork City and County, some of our Patrons, representatives of the media, and Friends of the Festival. A contingent of supporters came from Schull by specially chartered coach. As can be seen from the attached clippings the coverage of the event was immense.

Newsletters were sent out on a regular basis to all Friends of the Festival and Local Businesses. Free Short Film Nights ran each month in Schull, all of which had in excess of 50 attendees. With this year’s budget constraints taken into account, the overall marketing campaign was highly effective, receiving exceptional local and national coverage which resulted in higher than expected audience figures.

EVENTS

Launch of the Corona Fastnet Short Film Festival

6pm, 16th April 2009, Crane Lane Theatre, Cork City

The First Corona Fastnet Short Film Festival launch was very successful generating a lot of publicity for the Festival. Benny McCabe (Festival Sponsor) provided the Crane Lane premises for the launch. Film Director Gerard Stembridge and Film Classification Director John Kelleher, both Patrons of the Festival, were in attendance, as were a number of the Festival Friends, supporters, sponsors, committee members and interested members of the press and public. Camilla Griehsel (Festival Committee Member) introduced speakers Maurice Seezer (Co-Chairman), Michael Barry (Main Festival Sponsor), John Kelleher (Patron), Gerard Stembridge (Patron) and Chris O’Dell (Chairman). Between the speeches extracts from some of the 88 short films submitted into the festival competition were shown. The night was rounded off by the group Dogtail Soup who played a choice of songs related to film.

Tony Barry interviewed by John Kelleher

8pm, 14th May 2009, Cinemobile, Screen 1.

Tony Barry showed two of his short films during his interview, “Lovers of the Lake” and “The House That Johnny Built”. Both films were very well received by an enthusiastic audience. Tony and John Kelleher worked together as Director and Producer on RTE’s adaptation of James Plunkett’s “Strumpet City” (Hugh Leonard wrote the screenplay) and the audience was treated to some hilarious anecdotes about their time together working on this series. Tony went on to speak about his admiration for the writers and actors he has worked with, the impact of a good director of photography, the importance of the time line in a film and how and when to incorporate flashback. There were a number of student film-makers in the audience and this led to a very animated question and answer session which spilled over into the bar of the Harbour View Hotel until midnight.

Jim Sheridan interviewed by Greg Dyke

8pm, 15th May 2009, Harbour View Hotel, Screen 2.

Jim Sheridan spoke to a packed house for over two and a half hours about the importance of a good script, the relationship between director and lead actor, trying to tune into the BBC as a kid (with his father on the roof adjusting the aerial), learning about film-making by simply making a film and the genius of Stanley Kubrick (among many other things). Greg Dyke, a former Director General of the BBC, was a very relaxed and gracious host and enjoyed the obvious story-telling genius of one of Ireland’s greatest film-makers. The interview focussed on first-time film-making. He showed “Patterns”, his daughter Kirsten Sheridan’s college film, a first film by his youngest daughter Tess Sheridan and a film called “Play It Back” by Viko Nikci. What followed was an energetic question and answer session, with diverse questions coming from the floor. The momentum of the interaction carried on into the New Haven Restaurant until the early hours of the morning.

Kirsten Sheridan interviewed by John Kelleher

8pm, 16th May 2009, Harbour View Hotel, Screen 2

Kirsten Sheridan’s love of the short film genre came across in her choice of three films; “Undressing My Mother” (Ken Wardrop), “The Door” (Juanita Wilson) and “The White Dress” (Vanessa Gildea). Despite being an Oscar nominated screenplay writer and a director of two very successful feature films (“Disco Pigs” and “August Rush”), she remains involved in the world of short film and spoke passionately about the talent of the young Irish film directors she meets through her work as a member of the Irish Film Board. John Kelleher was a sympathetic interviewer, drawing Kirsten out on the twin cornerstones of a well-made film; script and actors. John’s extensive experience in the film industry, both as producer and now as director of Film Classification, made for a very interesting discussion that covered the process of film-making, the business of getting a film funded and virtually everything in between. There was a lively question and answer session from a crowd that included a number of the young directors who had entered films into the Fastnet Short Film Festival.

FILM WORKSHOPS WITH TONY BARRY AND MARK McCARTHY

The workshop took place during February, March and April.

To be precise, that meant nine meetings of two hours which took place in the sailing area of Schull Community College.

The participants, twelve in number, were introduced to all the disciplines that go together to make a film: writing, direction, design, producing, continuity, light, camera, sound and editing.

The process was conducted in a hands-on operation, meaning that equipment (4 Canon video cameras, 2 laptop computers for editing, and sound equipment) was used.

Each evening began with a short talk – 10 to 15 minutes – on a particular aspect, followed by an hour of practical demonstration with cameras, sound equipment, etc. Questions such as the motivation for doing something in a particular way would give rise to exercises or demonstrations in shooting, sound, design, makeup, and so on. The final 3/4 hour would be spent on story editing or analysing a short film.

On the very first night after a brief introduction we entered into the world of Constantine Stanislavski and improvisation, creating a scene about a drunk on a bus causing great disruption and fright, the calling of the guards and inevitable removal of the culprit. This threw the ‘students’ together and got rid of inhibitions; anything was possible thereafter.

We went on to introduce all the possibilities open to someone interested in becoming active in the film industry.

As the course progressed, people realised that it is not all about direction. It is about interesting jobs of great creativity, including lighting cameraman, sound recordist, dubbing mixer, producer, designer, continuity, make-up, set dressing, props, etc. It was rewarding that from the twelve, two potentially good cameramen, one sound recordist and one designer emerged.

WRITING

Seven scripts emerged.

When we decided to make three into short films, it did not deter those whose scripts were not chosen from throwing their full weight behind the effort of making the others’. Such was the camaraderie that developed over the short period of time.

Visiting Professionals:

We invited Chris O’Dell to come and give an hour’s demonstration with lights, etc., and to talk about his creative process as a lighting cameraman. The response from the participants was wonderful.

Maurice Seezer, composer of music for film (In America, Disco Pigs, The Boxer) and others came and joined in, again with great reaction from the students.

Visiting professionals add immeasurably to the process.

The Shoot:

Apart from the nine two-hour sessions and one-to-one sessions with each writer/director, three weekends were set aside for the shooting of the short films.

The time involved in the whole operation was very short by normal standards, but, for people who never made a film before, never acted or operated a camera, who never did any of the many things that go into making a film, it gave great hope for the future.

An important bonus of this project is its long-term educational value. The technology is here now and feature films are already being made digitally. With the dramatic increase in quality, all kinds of technical possibilities are opening up. What we need is to continue to educate young people in the art of writing for the screen, and in what motivates best practice in all the disciplines that go to make a complete work.

Schull has a number of professional makers and superb administrators who are willing to continue the process.

FSFF Children’s Workshop: Out Of Bounds

The workshop provided an opportunity for young actors to rise above and beyond the adventure, through improvisation. The aim of the workshop by Jason Lee, Kirsten Sheridan (Writer and Director), Caolán Gibbons (Drama Teacher) and Maurice Seezer (Musician & Composer) was to create a setting, which allowed for freedom of expression by the young actors.

The ‘improvisations’ were filmed, edited and then presented 24 hours later during the Film Festival accompanied by an original soundtrack. The workshop was as much about making a short film using readily available equipment – an idea, an affordable video camera, a computer with simple editing software, a friend who plays an instrument, a little bit of time and lots of good energy, to make the best you can with what you’ve got.

The Sequence of Events

The hall of the Scoil Mhuire National School, Schull, was kindly provided to host the workshop with sixteen 9-12 year olds attending. Caolán Gibbons set about with exercises in improvisation – acting without a script and encouraging the youngsters to express themselves without words. Kirsten Sheridan joined in and continued the exercises as though she was conducting an audition for a film, and the young actors responded.

Meanwhile Jason Lee filmed the action using only a Panasonic digital still camera with video mode. The aim being to show that with the most basic equipment – Camera + Apple Laptop + Time + Creativity + a Little Know How, it is possible to create a short film which entertains and inspires. Maurice Seezer brought together musicians – Fergus O’Farrell, Marja Gaynor, Bertrand Galen, Andrew Philpot and Joe Bracken to record the original soundtrack to accompany the short film. Twenty-four hours after the workshop began the film was edited using Apple iMovie, the soundtrack was added and the film was presented at the first Fastnet Short Film Festival. The film received calls for a second showing there and then, a first at the festival, and was again requested to be shown at the closing ceremony that evening.

Fringe Events:

Following the drafting of the festival programme the steering committee set about finding a range of self funded and subsidised fringe events and activities that would be suitable to festival visitors and their families. Given Schull’s proximity to the coast, water based activities featured large, from sailing tours round the islands of Roaringwater Bay to whale watching off The Fastnet Rock. Unfortunately, the weather did not oblige and all waterborne activities were cancelled following very high winds and associated rough seas. Heavy outbursts of rain also impacted the proposed guided walks up the local Mount Gabriel. The coach tour to The Mizen Head Visitor Centre was well attended and provided a light hearted distraction for many of our visitors and VIP’s. The children’s story teller, Melissa Baker, funded by the festival to provide complimentary entertainment for the many “young film makers in the making” proved a great hit, not only with the children but with many of their parents as well! The steering committee feels that a wide range of alternative activities is important for festival visitors and will use the experiences from 2009 to create a variety of both paid and subsidised events for future festival years.

Corona Fastnet Short Film Festival 2009 Shortlisted Films

Title Director

An Cosc Vincent Gallagher

Colin Clout Oliver Nias

Dead Wait Chris Dale

The Escort Clare Holman

Extracting Money Niall O’Keefe

Faker Mark Chapman

Hammerhead Sam Donovan

He Dies at the End Damian McCarthy

Hula Looper Maricin Ostasz

I Won’t Let You Down Pavel Barter

Tart Mairtin de Barra

Motion Robin Whenary

Of Best Intentions Brian Durnin

Pink Scrimp Meike Zylman

Penny Patrick O’Shea

Play Muriel d’Ansembourg

Rethink the Shark Erica Brumage

Revelations Jane Lee

The Smallest Cinema

in the Universe Ute Arning

The Stolen Generation Kim Houghton

& Pol O Conghaile

Tomato Soup Paul O’Brien

Tractical Investigations Grainne McHale

Verso Tempo Julien Longchamps

The Awards

Best Director, sponsored by Vivien E Nathan

Play, directed by Muriel d’Ansembourg

Best Comedy, sponsored by Steve Coogan & Baby Cow Productions

Hammerhead, directed by Sam Donovan

Best Animation/Experimental Film, sponsored by William & Judith Bollinger

Tomato Soup, directed by Paul O’Brien

Best Documentary, sponsored by BioPower Group plc

The Stolen Generation, directed by Kim Houghton & Pól Ó Conghaile

Best Music, sponsored by Benny McCabe, Crane Lane Theatre, Cork

Of Best Intentions, directed by Brian Durnin

Best Cinematography, sponsored by Ulli Crespo & Michael Satke

Tart, directed by Mairtin de Barra, director of photography Stephen Murphy

Best Script, sponsored by Frank Daly

The Escort, written & directed by Clare Holman

Best Drama, sponsored by Cork County Council

Penny, directed by Patrick O’Shea

Best of Festival, sponsored by Corona Extra

An Cosc, directed by Vincent Gallagher

Best of the CFSFF Workshop Films, sponsored by Dogtail Soup

How Does the Heart Know What the Eyes Can’t See,

directed by Alan Tobin

Special Mention

Ballad directed by Guillaume Balois

Behind Blue Eyes directed by Marty Moynihan

Brokeback Cowboy directed by John Burns

Duality directed by Noel Brady

Féileacán directed by Cecilia McAlister

God & Napoleon directed by Ciaran Deeney

Eternal directed by Steve Woods

Liminal directed by Stephen Keep Mills

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