Two Irish Producers have had feature documentary projects selected for EURODOC with producers Deaglán Ó Mocháin and David Rane scheduled to attend the first session of the 2014 programme, dedicated to development. The programme will take place in Nimes, France.
EURODOC is a training programme designed to allow European professionals of the documentary field to develop a specific project. It is designed for European producers and authors who have documentary projects with international and co-production potential. The objectives of the EURODOC programme are to improve the development level of documentary projects of international potential, to present the projects to the Commissioning editors invited, to face technological changes in the fields of development, production and distribution, and to strengthen small and middle-size companies, among other aims.
David Rane, from Soilsiú Films, is one of the producers attending the MEDIA-funded training programme bringing with him a new feature documentary called ‘In Loco Parentis’. The documentary is about an Irish boarding school, and David will be producing and also co-directing with the film with Neasa Ní Chianáin (‘Fairytale of Kathmandu’, ‘Frank Ned & Busy Lizzie’, ‘The Stranger’). The project received development funding from RTÉ Education.
David set up Soilsiú Films in 1997. He has produced a number of shorts and documentaries including ‘No Man’s Land’, ‘Sir Gawain and the Green Knight’, ‘Frank Ned & Busy Lizzie’ and ‘Fairytale of Kathmandu’. His directorial credits include ‘Clare’s First Day’, ‘Dilemmas’ and ‘It’s All in the Jeans.’
Deaglán Ó Mocháin is the second Irish producer attending the programme. Deaglán set up his Derry-based production company, Dearcán Media, in 2010 and since then he has produced six Irish language documentaries for BBC NI and TG4, including ‘Votaí do Mhná’ which airs on the latter channel tonight. He is attending EURODOC with his first feature documentary project, which is about political imprisonment in Ireland.
This occasion will mark both Deaglán and David’s first time attending EURODOC, and their participation was made possible by support from Screen Training Ireland, with additional support for Deaglán from the Northern Ireland Screen Skills Fund.
The two producers will be participating in the first session, which is taking place this week in Nimes, France. This session focuses on development and project analysis while the second session, to take place in Gothenburg, Sweden in June, will focus on co-production deals, budgeting, financing and marketing. The final session in Vilnius in October is dedicated to meeting commssioning editors, buyers, sales agents and other potential partners for the project.
David Rane expressed enthusiasm about his invitation to Nimes: “EURODOC is giving me a great opportunity to meet with other European producers and experts to really work on our documentary treatment, and to figure out how our story can find a place on the European stage.”
Meanwhile, Deaglán added: “I was able to immediately tap into a wealth of knowledge about production strategies, and received very useful feedback about my proposed project from highly experienced international producers. It’s a very impressive set-up.”
