Screen Ireland (formerly the Irish Film Board) has named the six project teams that will take part in the inaugural edition of its POV scheme, which backs female filmmakers.

Ireland

Source: Pixabay

Ireland

The selected projects will enter a development and mentorship phase before three will be greenlit, with a budget of up to €400,000 each – the money has been ring-fenced from Screen Ireland’s overall production budget. They will be aiming to enter production in late 2019/early 2020.

The teams chosen include Roisín Geraghty who is producing Sunlight for Blinder Films, the company behind Love & Friendship and Grace Jones: Bloodlight And Bami, Antonia Campbell-Hughes, known as an actress in 3096 Days and Black 47, who makes her feature debut as a writer-director with It Is In Us All, and producer Conor Barry, whose Savage Productions is behind 2017 Tribeca premiere Pilgrimage.

They were selected by Screen Ireland project managers Celine Haddad, Lesley McKimm, Dearbhla Regan and production and distribution manager Emma Scott from a total of 65 applications. They described the selections as “wonderful examples of the wealth of female talent working in the Irish screen industries today”.

The projects are:

  • Knowl to be written by Elisabeth Gooch (Nightbird), directed by Lisa Mulcahy (The Legend Of Longwood), and produced by Ruth Carter (Damo And Ivor: The Movie) for Blue Ink Films;
  • It Is In Us All to be written and directed by Antonia Campbell-Hughes and produced by Conor Barry (Pilgrimage) for Savage Productions;
  • Down By Your Side to be written directed by Niamh Heery (A Father’s Letter) and produced by Caroline Kealy for Swansong Films;
  • Sunlight to be written by Ailbhe Keogan (Take Me Swimming), directed by Claire Dix (Take Me Swimming) and produced by Roisín Geraghty for Blinder Films;
  • Tryst to be written and directed by Jeda De Brí and produced by Claire McCaughley (Metal Heart) for Treasure Entertainment;
  • You Are Not My Mother to be written and directed by Kate Dolan and produced by Deirdre Levins (Nails) for Fantastic Films.

Screen Ireland chief executive James Hickey said that the scheme is aimed at “increasing female representation both in front of and behind the camera as part of Screen Ireland’s wider commitment to achieving 50/50 gender parity within the Irish screen industries”.

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