Irish Film Board signs up to Guiding Lights for second year

Guiding Lights, the British film industry’s flagship mentoring scheme run by Lighthouse and majority funded by the Creative Skillset Film Skills Fund, will again extend beyond the UK as its international partners the Irish Film Board and FÁS Screen Training Ireland have signed up for a second year.

Guiding Lights will select two Irish candidates to join the ten UK-based film talents for this year’s scheme where they will be mentored over nine months by industry professionals. Director Lone Scherfig (An Education) and screenwriter Simon Beaufoy (Slumdog Millionaire) served as last year’s mentors to the Irish participants, with previous Guiding Lights mentors including the likes of Sam Mendes, Barbara Broccoli, Danny Boyle and Kenneth Branagh.

Ursual Rani Sarma [pictured], one of last year’s Irish participants, commented: “I can’t speak highly enough of my time on Guiding Lights. It’s great to be part of the alumni now and I’m planning on attending the networking sessions and on staying in touch with both Simon [Beaufoy] and the other participants. As an Irish participant, it was a really fast way of meeting a wide and diverse group of filmmakers in the UK.”

The full list of Guiding Lights participants, including the two Irish candidates, will be announced in Feb 2013, with applications for Irish filmmakers now open until Nov 15.