Mark Noonan's 'Getting Air' screens in Japan's Sapporo festival whilst Andrew Kavanagh's 'Hasan Everywhere' screens at three UK festivals....
’Getting Air’ Screening at Sapporo
Mark Noonan’s ‘Getting Air’ screened in Japan this weekend as part of the Sapporo International Short Film Festival 2011.
The independent short film is the only Irish film in the Official Selection and is one of just 78 films chosen from 2,291 short films submitted from 88 countries. It screened twice at the festival which runs from 5th to 10th of October.
Written and directed by Mark Noonan and produced by Clare Creely and Pete Moles, the film is an urban drama about three teenage basketball-playing friends struggling to connect with each other and the adults in their lives. When they meet two members of the police, relationships with their family and the law take a turn. The cast includes newcomers Jamie Maher, Jasmin Huysmans and Dylan Byrne along with Fiona Browne (Swan Story), Elga Fox (Portrait of a Zombie, This Way They Came) and John Currivan. Director of Photography on the shoot was Stevie Russell with original music by Gavin O’Brien.
Director Mark Noonan’s previous credits include the award-winning short film ‘Questions’ (Best First Short at the 2009 Corona Cork International Film Festival) and he was recently selected for the Berlinale Talent Campus 2011.
‘Getting Air’ has screened at a wide range of festivals at home and abroad including the Galway Film Fleadh, Corona Cork Film Festival, the Kerry Film Festival, the Chicago Irish Film Festival, the Indie Spirit Film Festival in Colorado and the Lewiston-Auburn Film Festival in the US. The film was recently included in a selection of the top ten best Irish short films from the Kerry Film Festival 2011, which will screen in film clubs across the country as part of an initiative between the festival and access Cinema. The next screening will take place in Poland as part of FRSF’s Polish Film Review.
Hasan Everywhere
The 2010 IFTA nominated animated short ‘Hasan Everywhere’ will screen at three UK festivals in November and December. The short will firstly be shown at the Aesthetica Film Festival in York (3rd-6th November) where the film is in official competition, then Cinema Palestino in Sheffield (25th-27th November) and finally the Palestine Film Festival in Bristol (2nd-3rd November).
Written and directed by Andrew Kavanagh, it tells the story of an Israeli novelist who strikes up a friendship with a Palestinian artist when they meet by chance in New York, a friendship which would not have been possible at home. Andrew Kavanagh will be attending the Sheffield and Bristol screenings to introduce the film and participate in a Q&A afterwards.
‘Hasan Everywhere’ is produced by Ciara Gillan for Kavaleer Productions and voice cast include Sami Moukaddem and Keshet Zur. It previously scooped the Grand Prix award as well as the Best Use of Film or Animation award at the Digital Media Awards.
It was produced under the Frameworks scheme which is funded by the Irish Film Board, the Arts Council and RTÉ.
