Screen Directors Guild of Ireland

The Boston Irish Film Festival in association with Magners Irish Cider is pleased to announce the Call for Entries for the 2008 BIFF Awards.  The festival kicks off its tenth year with its largest event ever including a mini market, seminars and screenings.The BIFF Awards will be held at the 10th Annual Magners Irish Film Festival, Nov. 13-16 2008 in Boston, Massachusetts and we invite Irish Directors to submit their work for consideration.

 

The BIFF Awards were inaugurated in 2003 to honor those filmmakers whose work represents the very best of Ireland and the Irish on screen. Entries are being accepted for three categories Feature, Documentary and Short Fiction/Animation.  

 

Winners in each category will receive flight and accommodation to attend the event, have the opportunity to have meetings with US industry professionals and attend the awards ceremony followed by  special screening of the winning films and a private reception afterward.

 

Full details can be found online at www.irishfilmfestival.com and submissions are accepted through http://www.withoutabox.com/

Over 40 SDGI members and invited guests joined SDGI Executive Director Birch Hamilton and board members Conor Horgan and Declan Recks on a balmy evening on Tuesday 22nd  of July to officially launch the exciting new Sony Directors Screening Room. 

Members were treated to a champagne reception and canapes and got the opportunity to see the state of the Sony equipment in action. Featuring a state of the art HD projector compatible with Beta, Blue Ray & DVD with a Harmon Kardon surround sound audio system, all agreed that this new facility, available to all paid up SDGI members completely free of charge, is a hugely valuable addition to SDGI's benefits offering to members.

Speaking at the launch Jerry Flynn, Head of Sony Entertainment in Ireland spoke of his excitment when approached by the Guild to consider partnering with SDGI in establishing the Screening Room; 'It seemed like a very natural step for Sony Entertainment into partner with directors by sponsoring the Sony Directors Screening Room. Directors are the industries real creative talent and we are delighted to have been able to bring this wonderful project to fruitition.'

SDGI are currently putting the finishing touches to the Sony Directors Screening Rooms Guide and Rules for Use and envisage being able to take bookings from the first week in August.For more information contact Liz on Mondays and Tuesdays on 01 6337747.

SDGI is delighted to announce the arrival of the Sony Directors Screening Room. This facility, available completely free of charge to all members, features a state of the art HD projector compatible with Beta, Blue Ray & DVD with a Harmon Kardon surround sound audio system.

No longer do you need to hire a facility to show your work to potential funders, meet producers or writing partners in a hotel lobby or spend hours researching in the local library. This screening room provides you with the facility to have meetings, review your work and have a quiet place to research projects all completely free of charge!!

The screening room will, in the future, play host to the SDGI Directors Club, which was launched in 2007 with the award winning director David Gleeson and his film The Front Line. Since its inception, The Directors Club has generated great interest and excitement with John Carney’s screening of Once and Lenny Abrahamson’s Garage, Neil Jordan’s The Brave One, Jim Sheridan’s Brothers among others.

You will all have received your invitations to the launch of the Sony Directors Screening Room in the post by now so why not come along on the 22nd and celebrate the launch of the new Sony Directors’ Screening Room at 7pm on the 22nd of July, 43 Temple Bar, Dublin 2.

 

The Screen Directors Guild of Ireland, in association with the Directors Guild of America, is delighted to announce that the winner of the

Directors Finders Series 2008is

 Tomm Moore & his feature “The Secret of Kells”

As the winner of The Directors Finders Series, the animation feature “The Secret of Kells” will be showcased in the Director’s Guild of America Theatre, Sunset Boulevard, L.A, on 19th September 2008 to an audience of American distributors & industry personnel with a view to securing a U.S distribution deal for the film.

Selected by an international panel of experts “The Secret of Kells’” tells the animated story of the boy behind the famed Book of Kells.

Twelve hundred years ago, an orphan named Brendan meets Brother Aidan, the keeper of an extraordinary, but unfinished book of illuminations. Aidan sets Brendan a great task, to complete the Book of Kells. With the threat of invading Vikings all around & with the help of Aisling, a mysterious young girl, Brendan faces his deepest fears to complete the task.

This year, SDGI will launch Tomm Moore & his film “The Secret of Kells” at a special Industry Awards Ceremony on 4th September in Dublin in The Morrison Hotel, to precede the L.A Screening Event.

This event will be will be officially opened by the Minister for Arts, Sports & Tourism, Martin Cullen & will be co-hosted by internationally acclaimed directors Jim Sheridan & Michael Apted, (The Chronicles of Narnia, Gorillas in the Mist, The World is Not Enough, etc).

The Screen Directors Guild is very excited about the 2008 Directors Finders Series due to the overwhelming success of last years’ Dublin & L.A events, as well as last years winning director Tom Collins & his film ‘Kings’ successfully going on to get a U.S distribution deal, being Ireland’s official nomination for Best Foreign Language Film in the Academy Awards & winning 5 IFTA’s earlier this year.

For further information or photos contact the Production Manager, Michelle Connolly on michelle@sdgi.ie / 087 814 0713

This award is supported by The Irish Film Board, The DGA, The Arts Council, Culture Ireland and Screen Training Ireland.

Prominent conference delegates issue statement calling on urgent action

 

Brussels, June 2, 2008

A high-profile international conference held in Dublin this weekend attended by over 60 film and television directors from across Europe, has strongly criticised the lack of implementation of their rights throughout European countries, and has called on urgent establishment of strong, enforceable legislation to address the situation. Impacting on these rights are the issues of the illegal downloading of films from the internet, and the exploitation of authors' works without proper payment. Hosted by the Screen

Directors Guild of Ireland (SDGI), the conference welcomed the General Assembly of the Federation of European Film and Television Directors (FERA) to Dublin for the first time ever.

"While the new digital era represents an exciting opportunity for European film directors to reach a larger audience, these are two serious challenges to the creative community, and will have a profound effect on the film industry in Ireland and right across Europe if not addressed immediately", commented Cécile Despringre Chief Executive Officer of FERA on the final day of the conference.

"Our vision in FERA is to represent directors in a very constructive way, not only for what we are and what we aspire to be, but also to enable us to embrace the new media, the new ways of expression and new ways for us to reach our audiences. European filmmaking is like being in a tiny vessel facing huge tankers in a stormy sea" said Liv Ullmann stepping down after five years serving FERA as President. To which, Neil Jordan added "that the

very kind of films that make cinema an art are harder to make and see than ever before."

This conference focused on important initiatives and common concerns for European directors such as creative and economic challenges that European directors face today, new technology and the impact this has on the creative process and European legislation and the regulation of films online.

The rapid progression of developments in new media and their potential impact on directors is cause for concern, and as such formed a key topic of discussion at the AGM.  The implications of European legislation (existing and impending) on new technology are significant for the filmmaking community in all its variety, and ultimately for the public who engage with these artforms. The creative and artistic elements of the media industry will be impacted upon significantly by the legislation in question, and this topic was a focus of the AGM. SDGI hopes that this conference will highlight areas in which Irish institutions could respond better to this vital cultural debate at a European level, and raise awareness of areas where Ireland is not currently implementing existing European legislation.

Delegates and guests at this distinguished event included renowned director and actress Liv Ullmann, who introduced a special screening of her film Faithless on Friday evening.  The screening was followed by a "director in dialogue" session where the director discussed her work with Academy Award winner Neil Jordan.

FERA (Fédération Européenne des Réalisateurs de l'Audiovisuel / Federation of European Film and Television Directors) was established in Venice in 1980 and now represents 33 national associations in European countries. FERA focuses on relaying the concerns of directors onto the European political scene in order to promote a European environment fostering creation and circulation of European works. FERA defends the art and craft, and the creative and economic rights of the director, as essential to the diversity of European audiovisual culture.

The FERA General Assembly elected István Szabó as its new President and renewed three members of the Executive Committee out of seven. The following final declaration was adopted:

 

"Meeting in Dublin, the city where James Joyce opened the first Irish cinema, European Directors reflect on the fragile nature of film distribution 104 years later. James Joyce's cinema went dark; we do not wantthe same thing to happen to European film culture.

 "European filmmaking is like being in a tiny vessel facing huge tankers in a stormy sea" said Liv Ullmann stepping down after five years serving FERA as President. To which, Neil Jordan added, after screening "Faithless" her film based on Ingmar Bergman's script, "the very kind of films that make cinema an art are harder to make and see than ever before."

The new digital era represents an exciting opportunity for European film directors to reach a larger audience. However, there are two challenges to the creative community: illegal downloading of films and the exploitation of authors' works without proper payment.

"We need partners, not foes" as István Szabó said in his acceptance speech as new President.

We therefore call on EU and national authorities to establish a strong, enforceable level of protection of authors' rights throughout European countries. We encourage them to be as visionary, innovative and bold as James Joyce in embracing new technologies in the best interest of European film artists and their audience."