For over a decade the Irish Film Archive has facilitated non- commercial film festivals not only in Ireland but also all over the world. Our role is comprehensive providing film prints, publicity materials, programme notes and advice. Over the years we have built up valuable links with a wide variety of international film festivals and this work has contributed significantly to the appreciation and understanding of Irish film abroad. A large collection of viewing prints is available for distribution to festivals. This comprises older and contemporary titles and continues to grow in parallel with increased international awareness of and demand for Irish cinema.
The Archive has a dedicated staff member, Aoife Coughlan who works exclusively on film festival co-ordination; her work is undertaken in consultation with the Archive curator and the Cultural and Information sections of the department of Foreign Affairs. Aoife’s work enables Foreign Affairs to fulfill their cultural remit to promote Irish culture through embassies and consulates abroad. Festivals are also hosted by cinematheques and by Irish ex-patriot groups eager to see Irish cinema that might otherwise be unavailable to them. The number of festivals dealt with has grown substantially over the years and the service provided by our festival co-coordinator has grown accordingly. An increased interest in Irish cinema over the last ten years has also led to a proliferation of media studies and 3rd level courses studying Irish film both nationally and internationally and the Archive is happy to assist these also.
With in excess of 40 festivals serviced per year a comprehensive summary of recent activity would be impossible in this space but particular highlights in recent years include the film section of China/Ireland Cultural Exchange 2004 held in Beijing and Shanghai– which drew extensively on Archive collections, the Hanover Expo and EU Presidency Cultural Programme providing material for festival screenings throughout the accession countries in conjunction with the Department of Foreign Affairs and the 2001 Travelling Dublin programme, part of the Travelling Film Festival in Rennes one of the most significant festivals of Irish cinema ever undertaken with almost 100 Irish produced and Irish themed films screened.
As I write another large retrospective of Irish cinema is taking place in the Czech Republic as part of the Lenzi Summer School. In this case we provided over 40 titles from the Archive collection in addition to clearance and programming assistance. Archive screenings have also recently taken place in Aosta, Bangkok, Moscow, Addis Ababa, Tokyo, Dar Es Salaam, New York, San Francisco, Bermuda, and Oslo to name but a few, the list of venues is as far flung as it is long. The interest in Irish cinema continues to grow each year with a growing awareness of and audience demand for contemporary Irish cinema. In the absence of an all-encompassing body to promote Irish culture, abroad (such as the British Council the UK) the Archive’s festival work provides a very real opportunity to bring Irish cinema to audiences that would otherwise not have access to it.
In Ireland regional exhibition is undertaken through collaboration with national, local arts and community festivals for example the Rathmines arts festival, Kerry film festival, Galway film fleadh and the Belfast Cathedral Quarter festivals. Archive films are screened through the Access Cinemas network and by the National and Leitrim Cine-mobiles the latter is undertaking a of John Mc Gahern festival later this year featuring many films provided by the Archive. Through these outlets the Archive facilitates an increasing number of requests for material of local interest and fulfills its national remit.
The Irish Film Board are also a presence at a number of film festivals each year, they primarily deal with commercial festivals promoting mainly new IFB funded films and the Irish film industry as a whole. The Archive tends to exhibit at non -commercial festivals, screening both old and new titles in an effort to bring the gamut of Irish film heritage to international audiences. These differing but complimentary approaches to festival s combined last year to produce the well-received Green Screen initiative, a collaboration between the IFB and the IFI that brought 3 documentaries, three shorts and 5 features to a number of European countries as part of a cultural programme to mark Ireland’s EU presidency.
The Archive’s role to ensure an audience for Irish cinema abroad develops each year as the number of titles requested and festivals dealt with continues to increase. This growing demand for Irish cinema has lead to an exciting new Archive festival initiative Reel Ireland. For the last number of years the Archive’s festival work has been financially supported by the Cultural Relations Committee (CRC) of the Dept of Arts. Now seeking to expand our role in this area and build on the success of Green Screen the Archive has secured funding from the CRCs successor Culture Ireland for Reel Ireland a touring package of Irish film that will be made available to non-commercial exhibitors throughout 2005 /6.
This package, which will comprise 6 new and 2 archive “copyright cleared” titles, has been created to focus attention on new Irish cinema and a selection of older titles. In our mission to make Irish film as accessible as possible the Irish Film Archive will also make available supporting publicity material and translation scripts. Prominent members of the film community (film-makers and cultural commentators) will be available to introduce screenings. The package will be distributed through 4 key networks ensuring the widest possible distribution of the package in a mission to reach the broadest possible viewer profile in terms of age and nationality. These are Irish Consulates and Embassies worldwide, Irish Cultural Students (in universities throughout Europe and the US) the Irish Film Festival network and the Europa Cinema Network.
Exhibitors throughout the Europa Cinema circuit, the global Irish consular and diplomatic corps and the US Irish cultural network among others have already eagerly welcomed this initiative. It is often difficult for exhibitors in remote territories to secure the rights, distribution and programming information necessary to access Irish film. This package will enable exhibitors to extend the range of titles available and thereby reach new audiences.
The Reel Ireland Project will enable the Irish Film Archive to implement Culture Ireland’s stated objective to ‘access new audiences worldwide, create important international cultural links and enhance Ireland’s artistic profile in a global context’ see http://www.cultureireland.ie/. The unique accessibility of film as a medium and its ability to cut across obstacles of gender, age, ability and religion makes it ideal to bring Irish stories to audience’s from Singapore to Sydney. Venues Reel Ireland will tour include Bratislava, Estonia, Tanzania, Perth, Brazil, Singapore, Portugal, Kuala Lumpur and several venues within the United States.
The creation of this fixed package of Irish films representing new releases and archive films, will allow the Irish Film Archive to reach new audiences and venues, thus allowing us to enhance the work we are already undertaking, fully utilise our international relationships and provide a more varied, extensive and far reaching service. We look forward to building upon the diverse festival work we have undertaken over the last decade through this exciting new project and continuing to bring Irish film to international audiences.
Kasandra O’Connell, Head of the Irish Film Archive, Irish Film Institute
This article was originally published in Film Ireland Issue 105 www.filmireland.net
Thanks to my colleagues Aoife Coughlan and Sunniva O’Flynn for their contribution to this piece.
