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Interviewing at the Galway Film Fleadh 2018
I’ll be conducting Q&As after the screenings of three films at the Galway Film Fleadh this year: Possum Wednesday, 11 July at Pálás Screen 1 – film begins at 22:00 I’ll be chatting to writer/director Matthew Holness (Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace) about his dark debut feature, and its development from short story to screen. Holiday Thursday, 12 July at Pálás Screen 1 – film begins at 20:45 I’ll be discussing this challenging feature film debut by Swedish filmmaker Isabella Eklöf (Notes from Underground). Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure Saturday, 14 July at Pálás Screen 1 – film begins at 22:45 I’ll be talking to screenwriter Ed Solomon (Men in Black) about…
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2012 Junior Film Fleadh
Since 2009 I’ve been involved with jury work for the Junior Film Fleadh in Galway, and I’m delighted to be on the jury of the Script Pitching Competition again this year. The competition is organised in association with the Galway Film Centre and SpunOut (a leading national youth organisation). The three short-listed finalists will have to deliver their film concept in front of an audience of their peers, and the jury, at noon tomorrow in the Town Hall Theatre. I have nothing but admiration for these young people who are brave enough to enter this competition and describe their ideas to a live audience. The Junior Film Fleadh starts today…
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flipping the gender
Thanks to Bad Reputation – a blog that’s become part of my regular reading – I discovered the awesome The Girls on Film. The team is made up of Ashleigh Harrington (co-creator, actress, editor, effects artist), Cat McCormick (co-creator, actress) and Jeff Hammond (co-creator, director). The trio re-makes scenes from male-dominated movies with the women playing the parts of the men. Thus far they’ve re-created scenes from Star Trek, The Town and Fight Club. Here is the Fight Club clip in all it’s wicked glory. The remade scenes – or cocktails as TGOF call them – underline the potential of putting women into roles that are not conventional. Both the…
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Little Crackers
Over the past couple of years the satellite broadcaster Sky has been venturing into commissioning original television programmes, which is generally a good thing as I’m always happy to see screenwriters getting work. Even though Sky is part of the Murdoch MegaCorp, it can have its benefits (as long as you avoid the news channels). This holiday season Sky has been airing a series of short films by male and female comedians called Little Crackers. Most of them are autobiographical, or at least represent the essence of the comedian (and the comedians usually appear in the short as a character). I’ve seen five of them so far and they are…
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is it too much to ask for plot and characters with the chest bursting?
Last night I watched Aliens vs Predator – Requiem, or AVPR as it’s also known, and reckon the Alien/Predator franchise has hit its movie nadir. I will admit a fondness for the original AVP. It’s formulaic, but it featured a strong likeable central heroine, Alexa Woods, (Sanaa Lathan), a clear story, and it delivered a couple of cool smack-downs: my personal favourite is when the Predator swings the Alien around like a discus athlete and knocks chunks out of the temple wall with the Alien’s head. Unfortunately, AVP contained too few moments like that. I wanted a bit more of Aliens and Predators knocking the crap out of each other.…
