Tag: travel

The Dun Laoghaire Underground Film Festival Opens Today

The Dun Laoighaire Underground Film Festival kicks off today. This festival has grown from strength to strength and is really carving a niche for itself in the Irish Festival circuit. Great credit must go to its director Dave Byrne who is doing sterling work. Among the films playing at it is Kara. This is a film I edited for my buddy Traolach O’Murchu and it will be having its Irish premiere this saturday. Head along if you can as its a cracking short made by a handsome man with a really big future.

Another film screening there, that I should give a shout out to is No Messages by Cian McGarrigle, an old friend. Cian’s short is doing terrific business for him, nominated in several categories in the award section of this festival, the film is also screening at the Cambridge Film Festival and just this week got accepted into the Corona Cork Film Festival. Best of luck to him with all those.


The other film playing at the festival that I was involved with is the feature film Derelict, which has its world premiere on sunday night with the prestigious closing night film slot. The film which was directed by Drogheda native Frank Kelly is a dark crime thriller that tells the story four desperate men who kidnap a bank managers family and keep them hostage as one of them robs the bank with the manager. Things start to go wrong in the derelict building they hide out in when they begin to realise they may not be alone. I had a lot of fun editing this film with Frank and I really hope that this festival is the start of something big for the man. You can still buy tickets for the premiere here, its a really enjoyable film so don’t miss out.

by Categories: Editing, MoviesTags: , , , , , Leave a comment

Busho Film Festival in Hungary

Last week my film “Bubble Chamber” which I made with Brooklyn composer PoN screened at the Busho Film festival in Budapest, Hungary. PoN flew in from the states and we had a great time over there, met with some wonderful people, saw some cracking shorts and walked all over what is a spectacular city.

The film itself played really well, although we were very hungover at the screening! Among the other filmmakers we met were Justin Doherty and Marc-Henri Boulier, both very talented guys with big futures ahead of them. Overall I would highly recommend this festival to anyone who has a short film doing the circuit next year and hopefully its a festival I will be able to return to, I certainly would like to.

Me outside the festival venue

PJ eating a Gyro. They were everywhere and incredible
The after party at the Africafe was buzzing
by Categories: Editing, Movies, MusicTags: , , , , Leave a comment

King of The Travellers Variety review


King of the Travellers was reviewed in Variety yesterday and it was a fairly positive spin on the film. “King of the Travllers is a Gaelic Godfather” has poster quote written all over it. You can read the full review here
Its pretty cool to see my name in the industry bible that is Variety. A real moment for me that.

by Categories: Editing, MoviesTags: , , Leave a comment

Tuam Film School for Seconary School Students this Summer..


I was delighted to see an ad for this during the week. Its a film making course for secondary school students in the Tuam and North Galway area that runs during the summer. I would have loved this when I was in my secondary school pomp (and I had some serious pomp going on). The course is run by seasoned industry pro and Tuam sham James Ryan who worked with myself on “Mobs Cheanada” and my own film “Shtax”. James is an ideal tutor for the course having worked in several disciplines and on a huge variety of films and tv shows in the last ten years.

Whats extra special about this course is just how crazy good value it is. The equivalent course offered in Dublin costs around 400 euros and 250 in some of the other cities around the country. So it really is a remarkable price, especially as I beleive there is discounts available if you book early.
So if you know anyone in the Tuam area who would be interested in this, I highly recommend they get involved by contacting the course at tuamfilmschool@gmail.com or ringing 087-2698248 or 093-53123 or find them on facebook

Here’s the press release…

A one week course being held in Tuam this Summer will show you how to operate broadcast-quality cameras and audio equipment. You’ll also learn about presenting, acting, scriptwriting, editing and what it’s like working together as a production team! At the end of the week you’ll come away with a smile on your face as well as your own short film and presenter/acting showreel – the rest of the summer can be spent working on that blockbuster…

This course is being run by James Ryan, who has worked on numerous short films and TV programmes shown on RTE and TG4. Most recently he produced a 13-part series for TG4 and was involved with RTE’s ‘Lucky Run’ webisodes, filmed in Tuam. James was also instrumental in choosing Tuam as a location for TG4’s IFTA-nominated Mobs Cheanada.

Shrule native Roisin Stack is also visiting to give a workshop in acting and rehearsals. Róisín has worked as Director of Galway Theatre Festival since 2009. She has taught drama in Ireland and Australia and performed for Melbourne Fringe, Edinburgh Fringe and San Francisco Mime Troupe. She is currently directing ‘The Mai’ by Marina Carr for Mephisto Theatre Company and the Town Hall Theatre, Galway.

An emphasis is placed on practical activities and with a maximum of 12 students per class, each budding filmmaker will have a chance to explore the areas which interest them most. For any students hoping to pursue their interests further, the course tutors are happy to advise.

This course is fully insured and students will be supervised. The course runs for five days from Monday 11th June to Friday 15th June, 10am to 3pm daily. The price per person is 139euro which includes all materials and use of professional equipment. Discounts available if more than one family member attending.

A special reduced price of 119euro per person is available if paid in full by end of May

by Categories: MiscTags: , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Garrai Glas Series 3


The 3rd season of the quite excellent ‘Garrai Glas’ returns to TG4 on Tursday 13th March. The 13-parter is directed by Paula Kehoe, and produced by my friends in Abu Meida, Bríd Seoighe, Eileen Seoighe & my old secondary school buddy James Ryan.
Síle Nic Chonaonaigh returns with a new journey ahead, having just moved into a new house(its awesome) with a bare garden. She travels from her home in Galway to visit gardeners all over the country, from the wilds of Donegal to the lush hillsides of West Cork. She meets people who grow using traditional methods, people who are growing the crops their grandparents did and some who are starting from scratch. Her visits include a water garden, a food forest, an allotment and a garden filled with exotic vegetables.
She also meets many experts, some are friends we’ve visited before and some are new, such as the renowned organic gardener Klaus Laitenberger. We cook, forage and gather as we did in the last two series, and Síle also broadens her horizons, visiting a bog to learn how to cut turf, going fishing, learning about generating your own energy, hand-weaving a traditional beehive and looking at the older handcrafts such as knitting and quilting.

Above all Síle hopes to bring all she learns home to her own garden, and through the season we see it slowly taking shape, from putting in a shelterbelt and building raised beds to making the compost bay and planning for winter. The aim of Garraí Glas is to inspire and show people how to grow some of their own food at home, and we’re given plenty of tips and advice on how to do that.

The series is made special by the people in it, the characters who open their gardens to us and are happy to show us a gentler, but very achievable, life.

by Categories: TelevisionTags: , , , , , , , , Leave a comment