The results of the most recent MEDIA i2i funding decisions have been announced and see €62,613 awarded to three Irish companies including Newgrange Pictures for ‘Stella Days’; Grand Pictures for ‘Death of a Superhero’ and Paper Dreams/Ripple World Pictures for ‘Earthbound’. The deadline for the next round of i2i funding is Monday, June 6th.
Directed by IFTA winning Irish director Thaddeus O’Sullivan (Into the Storm), the Irish co-production ‘Stella Days’ sees Martin Sheen (The West Wing) play parish priest, Daniel Barry, whose love for the cinema leads him on a path to help set up a local cinema in the town. Daniel comes up against opposition from doubtful local parishioners who question his faith and the Bishop Hegarty, played by Tom Hickey (My Left Foot), who is more interested in raising funds for a new church. Marcella Plunkett (Swansong – Story of Occi Byrne) and IFTA winner, Amy Huberman (Rewind) play sisters, Molly and Eileen – local women who become involved with Daniel’s mission. The film shot in November 2010 and wrapped post production last month with distribution details TBC.
The German/Irish co-production ‘Death of a Superhero’ shot in October 2010 and stars Andy Serkis (TinTin, The Lord of the Rings trilogy), Thomas Brodie Sangster (Love Actually, Nowhere Boy), Aisling Loftus (Dive), Jessica Schwarz (Perfume, Off Beat) and Irish actor Michael McElhatton (Parked, Happy Ever Afters). Directed by Ian FitzGibbon (Perrier’s Bounty), and written by Anthony McCarten, the Grand Pictures film centres on a terminally ill teenager who craves adventure and escape, eventually becoming friends with his psychologist, Dr Adrian King. The film is currently being edited in Germany with Bavaria Film International looking after world sales of the feature.
Paper Dreams/ Ripple World Pictures’ sci-fi rom-com, ‘Earthbound’ is the debut feature from writer-director Alan Brennan (Shapes). The film stars Rafe Spall (Hot Fuzz, Shaun of the Dead) Jenn Murray (Dorothy Mills) and David Morrissey (Centurion, Nowhere Boy). In ‘Earthbound’ Spall plays Joe Norman, a normal guy who finds out that he is an alien and must continue his dying species to save his home planet. Joe finds and falls in love with human Maria but as alien intergalactic bounty hunters begin their pursuit Joe must keep Maria safe before it’s too late. Element Pictures Distribution will distribute in Ireland in late 2011 with The Yellow Affair handling international sales of the film.
Since its inception in 2007, i2i has awarded a total of €643,819 to Irish production companies. The aim of the i2i audiovisual funding scheme is to support audiovisual production companies in accessing finance from banks and other financial institutions by co-financing some of the costs of guarantees required by said institutions. It looks to cover insurance costs and completion guarantee costs amongst others.
The deadline for the next round of i2i funding is Monday, June 6th. Each company can submit a project for a minimum allocation of €5,000 and a maximum of €50,000 per project. A company can submit two applications per Call for Proposals. For more information and to download application forms visit www.mediadeskuk.eu
