Films from award winning Irish directors Simon Fitzmaurice and Ken Wardrop have been selected to screen in the Shorts Programme at the forthcoming Sundance Film Festival. Fitzmaurice’s ‘The Sound of People’ and two documentary shorts from Wardrop will feature in the dramatic and documentary strands respectively.
‘The Sound of People’ by award-winning Irish duo Simon Fitzmaurice (Director) and Noreen Donohoe (Producer) is the only Irish short among the19 titles chosen for the Dramatic Shorts selection, which were shortlisted from over 5,000 entries. The film stars rising Irish actor Martin McCann (My Boy Jack, Closing the Ring) as eighteen year old Stephen, a young man who connects with his past and future and stares into the face of his own death.
Writer / Director Simon Fitzmaurice said “I am absolutely over the moon about getting into Sundance. Everyone worked heart and soul on this film and this is a wonderful response.”
Award winning short filmmaker Ken Wardrop will showcase two films in the Documentary Shorts selection; ‘Farewell Packets of Ten’ and ‘Scoring’. ‘Packets of Ten’ sees two ladies discuss the pros and cons of their mutual addiction to cigarettes, while the ‘Scoring’ hears how a young man explains the true power of a kiss.
Wardrop’s 2004 short ‘Undressing My Mother’ screened at the Sundance Festival in 2006 where the filmmaker won an Honourable Mention in the Short Filmmaking Award. The film also scooped numerous awards across the globe including an IFTA and European Film Academy Award.
The annual Sundance Film Festival, which was originally founded by Robert Redford, is world-renowned as a showcase for the best in new independent cinema.
“The creativity, urgency and passion of this year's filmmakers are palpable, proving that independent filmmaking is alive and well not only in the U.S. but throughout the world," said John Cooper, Director of Programming, Sundance Film Festival.
The Festival is held in January.(17-27 January 2008) in Park City, Salt Lake City, Utah, www.sundance.org/festival.
