There is positive news for Irish shorts all around…
‘Ghost Train’ Screens at International Film Festivals
Directed and written by Lee Cronin, short horror ‘Ghost Train’ follows two estranged brothers who annually take a pilgrimage to the old fairground where their friend went missing when they were young. This year, Michael will tell Peter something that will cast light on the incident and change their lives forever.
The short has had great success so far having screened at almost 20 festivals already. In the past week, ‘Ghost Train’ has also been confirmed to be have three major screenings taking place over the next month. It will screen at the LA Shorts Fest, at which the awards put you in the running for Academy Awards and BAFTA Awards, Fantasia in Montreal, possibly the biggest genre festival in the world, and the Film4 Frightfest, at which the short will be have its UK Premiere. ‘Ghost Train’ will also have its TV premiere this Saturday in France on Canal +.
‘Ghost Train’ is an Irish-Finnish co-production produced by John Keville for Rank Outsider productions in Ireland and Ulla Simonen for MADE in Finland.
‘Daisyhouse’ Tells Stories of Former Homeless
Housing charity Daisyhouse has released ‘Safe’, a short documentary telling the stories of three women who used their service to escape homelessness. The stark documentary sees the women speak directly to camera about their experiences of addiction, prostitution and crime. Using a black-and-white style, the documentary hears stories that go from absolute despair to hope and recovery.
The documentary was produced by James Keating of LandsLeaving Media, who said of the stories: “Working with these women has been massively inspirational. Seeing the strength they have and the things they've overcome is a testament to the great work Daisyhouse do.”
Daisyhouse Housing Association is a voluntary housing charity providing supported temporary accommodation to people experiencing homelessness. The charity is celebrating its twenty-fifth anniversary this year, and more can be found out about it at Daisyhouse.org.
You can view the short here:
Award-winning ‘Coda’ Screens at the IFI
Following on from its huge success on the festival circuit the animated short film Coda will screen ahead of documentary ‘Finding Vivian Maier’ in the IFI from today until the 31st July.
Funded by the Irish Film Board, RTÉ and the Arts Council through the Frameworks scheme, ‘Coda’ has garnered critical acclaim and has won awards at major festivals including the Best Animated Short Film award at the prestigious South by Southwest Festival in March, Most Creative Short at the Edinburgh Short Film Festival and the Grand Prize at Fest Anca.
Directed by Alan Holly and produced by Ciarán Deeney, the film voiced by Brian Gleeson (‘Standby’,’ The Stag’, ‘Love/Hate’) and Orla Fitzgerald (‘The Wind that Shakes the Barley’) tells the story of a lost soul who stumbles drunkenly through the city. In a park, death finds him and shows him many things.