Photo City Screening.

Last week as part of the Audi Dublin International Film Festival we had the Irish premiere of ‘Photo City’ the film I co-directed with Traolach Ó Murchú. The film played to a full house and it went down a storm. We were delighted with the reaction the film got and are looking forward to the next part of its adventure!

Here is some of the best reaction to the film from twitter

https://twitter.com/JayCoyle/status/834125508984131589

https://twitter.com/Lolliemurphy06/status/834132778702819328

Here are a few photos of me from the night.

 

Mattress Men OPENS TODAY

 

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Today is the big day, Mattress Men is finally available for Irish audiences to see after its successful trips to HotDocs in Toronto and to Sheffield DocFest. Its on today and all this week in the Lighthouse, the IFI, The Eye Cinema Galway, movies at Dundrum and in Swords and coming to other cinemas after that. Its also available on demand from Virgin media and from Volta.ie

I’m really hoping people get out and support the film as I’m ridiculously proud to have cut and to be associated with it. I think its really a special film, a unique picture of a Dublin rarely seen and an endearing tale of friendship that’ll make you laugh and make you cry. Colm Quinn, the films director has a unique skill at building a level of trust and empathy which is reflected back in the honesty and openness with which the films subjects Mick and Paul approached their story. It was a privilege to work with Colm on the film, one of the best and most challenging creative working experiences I’ve ever had. Honestly, I hope I’ll get to work on films as good as this again but if I don’t I’ll be happy to know that this film is out there.

Now of course I have a slightly biased opinion on this, I did spend six months cutting the film and have a lot emotional capital invested in its success. Not everyone is going to like it, that is true but thus far the reaction has been overwhelmingly positive. Lets take a look…

★★★★ The Irish Times

“A very humane story about poverty, ambition and everyday struggle. Mattress Men feels like an essential snapshot of an ignored urban sector. Buy, buy, buy before all the tickets are gone!” – Donald Clarke

★★★★ Entertainment.ie

“A charming and uplifting documentary, this one is a real surprise. Bursting with heart, this touching and funny story will warm the cockles.” – Gavin Burke

★★★★ Scannain.com

“Mattress Men is a terrific and ultimately quite moving film that shows how austerity eats at the soul of people who we don’t generally see on screen. The direction by Quinn is light and the editing brings a fluid story together with both grace and a grin. Highly recommended.” – Jason Coyle

★★★★ Movies.ie

Mattress Men tells the story of the Irish recession and the devastating effect it had and still has on the country but it is hard not to root for the plucky, charming and flawed people at the heart of this film. – Brogen Hayes

Film Ireland

“This story is as human as it gets, Colm Quinn’s film is more than the success story of a salesman turned internet star/national treasure, it’s a warm and familiar story of nationhood and success” – Grace Corry

And heres just a sample of what some people have been saying online about the film

https://twitter.com/FJWaldron/status/784119005560901632

 

So you know get out there and go see the film in your cinema, bring your friends and all that.

Mattress Men takes Toronto

Last week, I went over to Toronto for the Hot Docs Film Festival where the film I spent last year cutting ‘Mattress Men’ had its world premiere. Among everything else it also provided me with an opportunity to take a bit of a break and to visit Canada for the first time. The week away was a great success and the film went down an absolute storm.

The week started with Máire and I attending a really fun literary event on Bloor Street near where we were staying while the director Colm Quinn and the producer David Clarke making a somewhat unique appearance on morning television promoting the film.

The film played three times over the course of the festival, each screening was different and memorable in its own right. The first screening took place in the beautiful surroundings of the Hart House Theatre right in the middle of the city’s University. Despite everyone being nervous about attracting a crown on a Tuesday evening at 9:45 we ended up getting a great crowd down and the audience did what they were supposed to, they laughed, they cried and gave the film a great reception after. No matter how confident you are in a film, you never know how it’ll go down until you put in front of an audience and it couldn’t have gone much better.

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The second screening was in the TIFF Lightbox where so much of the festival was based, this screening played to a full house of over 300 people who once again all loved it. The stars of the film were genuinely touched by all the positivity towards them and to the film. There was a que of people after wanting their photo taken with Brian the Mattress Man. This was a screening unlike other I had experienced in my career thus far. Its something I won’t forget in a while.

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The third screening was a bit further out in a really cool district on the Friday night. It was again a full house and we were all a bit more ‘relaxed’ going into the film. It turns out the film is even funnier and more emotional when you’ve had a few jars. I also had the best burger of my life just prior to the screening but thats a different story. Seriously, that burger.

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The rest of the week was taken up with catching some great documentaries, exploring a really great city with Máire and just taking it easy. Heading to Niagara Falls with Mattress Mick and the crew is a memory I will cherish. We had a total blast.

Here’s what some of the reviews of the film looked like.
Toronto Film Scene said…
“Most people will probably go into Mattress Men expecting some hearty laughs based on its premise, and while they’ll get just that, they’ll also probably be surprised by how moving it all is. It’s the most unexpected tearjerker of the festival.”

And here are what some of the public had to say about it.

https://twitter.com/shelbymonita/status/728342388372951040
https://twitter.com/mareemartinez/status/728363897439268864
https://twitter.com/lpincente/status/728375258714128385
https://twitter.com/shelbazore/status/728779839981944833

Mattress Men to Premiere at HotDocs in Toronto

So yesterday it was announced that ‘Mattress Men’, the feature documentary I spent a large part of last year editing for director Colm Quinn will have its world premiere at North America’s largest documentary film festival, HotDocs.

The film takes a peak behind the mattress telling the true story the man who made the legend that is Mattress Mick.

mickhotdoc

In an attempt to save his struggling mattress business during the recession, sixty-something Michael Flynn teams up with aspiring filmmaker Paul Kelly to reinvent himself as the eccentric online persona ‘Mattress Mick’. Through Paul’s zany videos and creative use of social media Mattress Mick quickly becomes an unlikely local celebrity. However, as the business and Mick’s profile begins to grow, their friendship comes under increasing pressure.

Mattress Men is directed by Colm Quinn and is the first feature-length film from Dublin-based independent production companies El Zorrero Films and Faction Films. Mattress Men was funded by the Irish Film Board. The Film was produced by Dave Clarke and Ciaran Deeney with myself cutting, Colm shooting and Michael Fleming composing.

Earlier this year the same team (except me) produced one of the ‘After 16’ shorts Baring Arms which you can watch now on the RTE Player here. Its a great short, beautifully edited by Jordan Montminy that you should definitely check out.

Mattress Men will screen at HotDocs on the 3rd, 4th and 6th of May as part of the “Future Cult Classics” programme.

The announcement yesterday created quite a bit of buzz with the world clearly hungry for as much Mattress Mick as they can handle. Articles about the great mans forthcoming Toronto adventures appeared in Hot Press, the Daily Edge, Film Ireland and beyond.

Other Irish titles playing the festival include ‘The Land of the Enlightened’ and ‘Booby Sands:66 Days’. I’m looking forward to catching them at the festival.

Keep up to date with the project on twitter at @mattressMenFilm and the films official Facebook page

In the meantime, why not watch The Mattress Mick music video which features in the documentary ‘Back With a Bang’ to get a sense of what it is that Paul and Mick are all about…

Watch ‘Mar A Cheile Muid?’ online

For Seachtain na Gaeilge, Seán Ó’Cualáin has made his film ‘Mar a Cheile Muid?’ about the Gaeltacht civil rights movement of the 1970’s and its impact then and now available to watch online. The film is on the surface about the 40th anniversary of the 1974 Oireachtas in Cois Fharraige, the first one outside of the capital and a significant victory for the movement but its also about the challenges facing the Gaeltacht regions today. I think it’s a significant film about part of our shared cultural history and its one that I’m incredible proud and honoured to have been part of. I hope people enjoy it and that it sparks debate.

 

Ifta Nominations for Arkle and GAA USA

I was delighted this morning to see that 2 shows I edited were among the Nominees for the IFTA Television awards to be held in Dublin in 3 weeks time. Unfortunately both Arkle: The Legend Lives On and GAA USA are up against each other in the sports category. To further complicate the matter my brother and my office mates the Second Captains also received a nomination in the same category. So its safe to say I have some divided loyalties. One way or another as long as the Conor McGregor documentary doesn’t win I’ll be happy!

Arkle: The Legend Lives On was a Touchline Media production for Channel 4 and TG4. The film was a look back at the legendary race horse Arkle. The documentary was wonderfully directed by Luke McManus and produced by Denis Kirwin and Stephen Cullinane. I had a terrific time editing the doc with Luke over 4 frantic weeks last year in Highwire. The film already won the Best Sports Award at the Celtic Media Festival earlier this year and I’m sure you could get could good odds on Luke taking home another trophy in a few weeks. Personally I also really enjoyed writing about it here and calling the post ‘Blogging a Dead Horse’ which was a punning highlight of this blogs output.

GAA USA was produced by Sonta Films for TG4 and aired earlier this year. The series looks at the oft forgotten history of Gaelic Games in the United States and is presented by All-Ireland winning captain Dara Ó Cinnéide. The series was directed by Seán Ó Cualáín and produced by his brother Eamonn, Raemonn Mac Donnacha shot it and Darragh Dukes did the music. I spent the best part of last winter working on the series and I’m incredibly proud of it. This series marked my fourth time working with Seán (we are currently on number five) and its proved to be a really fruitful collaboration. An Godfather:Bryan Rooney, Rás Tailteann:Rothaí an tSaoil and Mar A Cheile Muid are all very diverse films that I’m thrilled to have played a part in. These films added with Seán’s previous work I think position him as one of the premier chroniclers of both rural Irish life and the Irish immigrant experience and he’ll kill me for saying it but I think he may well be this generations Bob Quinn.

Like I said complicating the matter is that the boys in Second Captains have been nominated for Second Captains Live. The live sports show is quite frankly outrageous in its ability to not only set new standards in sports broadcasting but maintain them too. I think this clip of them interviewing Ciaran McDonald exemplifies pretty well the work they do.

The show also features a weekly opportunity for my brother Ciaran to demean himself and his journalism degree by dressing up in humiliating costumes. Whats not to love about that?

I share an office with the boys and I can safely say that they along with Aideen, Karen, Rebecca, Pat and Collie are the hardest working motherfuckers in the business and if they do end up taking home the gong it’ll be richly deserved. They also, as I’m frequently and embarrassingly reminded, play a mean game of table tennis.

I was also thrilled to see my buddies Mark Henry, Colm Bairéad, Cleona Ni Chrualaoi, Katie Holly, Mick Mahon and David Power get richly deserved nominations in other categories. Best of luck to them and to all the other nominations. Overall the standard of work last year was incredible, heres the full list of nominees

The Scots at Waterloo airs tonight.

People of Scotland!

Tonight, on BBC 2 Scotland (Sky Channel 907) there is a documentary ‘The Scots at Waterloo’ which I had the pleasure of cutting recently in the fine city of Glasgow. This is the first of 3 versions of the Waterloo documentary that I cut for Caledonia/Tile Films to air. This version deals exclusively with some of the scots who fought at the battle 200 years ago.
I really enjoyed my couple of weeks in Glasgow cutting this with Les, Seona, Sajid and the gang at Caledonia Tv on Bath Street and I think the work is something special. So if you get the chance make sure to tune in.

https://vimeo.com/129202997
(This is the trailer for the international version but it gives you a good idea of the series)

Heres an interview with producer Seona Robertson about the show

On the BBC Website they go into more detail on the Five Scottish Heroes featured in the show

CREW
Director – Ruán Magan
Producer – Stephen Rooke, Seona Robertson
Writer – Les Wilson
Narrator – David Hayman
DoP – Ronan Fox
Editor – John Murphy
Music – Ronan Coleman

ABOUT THE SHOW

On the 200th anniversary of Waterloo, one of history’s bloodiest and most decisive battles, this docudrama reveals the front line action through the eyes of four Scottish soldiers – and one Extraordinary army wife.

In Wellington’s army of 1815, a quarter of British officers, and many crack regiments were Scottish – far out of proportion to the size of their nation. Highland regiments, kilted, and played into action by the pipes, were the most distinctive sight to friend and foe alike.

At Quatre Bras, the siege of Hougoumont, the Royal Scots Greys cavalry charge, the capture of the French Eagle of the 45th and the British squares, Scottish regiments and men were in the thick of the action.

These Scots at Waterloo were not only fighters – many of them also became writers. Scotland was the most literate nation in Europe, and the ordinary ‘Jocks’ left terrifying vivid accounts of being directly in the line of fire. Our Waterloo Scots represent officers and enlisted men, Highlanders and Lowlanders, veterans and rookies – and even a remarkable woman who was on the
battlefield with a six-month-old baby.

These Scottish stories unfold, through gritty and realistic dramatic re-enactments, over the course of the campaign and the extraordinary day of 18th June 1815 when 50,000 died and Wellington nearly lost, and Napoleon nearly won, the colossal struggle that was Waterloo.

12._sarah_vickers_as_jenny_griffiths_on_battlefieldjpg

Last week to watch GAA USA

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There are only 5 more days left for you to catch the series GAA USA on the TG4 player. I spent most of last winter cutting the series and was delighted with how it turned out.

If you want to watch the series and I think it’ll be worth your while, heres the link

The series went down really well and attracted lots of very positive feedback online. The series attracted huge numbers of people to the tg4 player, breaking all sorts of records. Heres some of the best reactions from twitter.

Paidi wins top prize at Celtic Media Festival

I’ve been in the edit all week so I haven’t had a chance until now to blog some news from last weekend As I reported last week Arkle won the Best Sports Documentary at last weeks Celtic Media Award but at the final awards the top prize of the festival, the Spirit of the Festival Award was given out to Páidi Ó Sé: Rí an Pharoiste. This makes something of a clean sweep for the documentary, having already won the Oireachtás Award for TV Programme of the Year and also winning the IFTA for Best Sports Documentary in 2014. Delighted for Director Louise Ni Fhiannachta and Producers Paddy Hayes and Laura Ni Cheallaigh (pictured here with the Torc)

Laura with the Torc for Paidi

For more information on the doc visit its page on my site

Here’s the trailer

Full list of Celtic Media Award 2015 Winners here, looking forward to next years event in Dungarvan which I shall definitely head to. There is no excuse not to after all.

Arkle wins Celtic Media Award

Earlier this week, director Luke McManus went to the Celtic Media Festival in Inverness where he picked up the gong for Best Sports Show for the Arkle documentary I cut for him last year. Luke was naturally delighted with the win, as am I obviously. I’m very proud of the work and I’m delighted its getting the recognition I think it deserves. Well done again Luke
Luke with the Torc!

For more information on the doc visits its page on my site