10 CinÉireann / March 2018
STORYBOARD
Shorts in Short
The 17th annual Tribeca Film Festival, presented by AT&T, today announced its lineup of 55 diverse and engaging short films in competition, including 29 world premieres. The selected shorts include a cross-section of international and U.S. filmmakers and were curated from a record 4,754 submissions. Three Irish shorts have been selected: Louise Bagnall’s animated Late Afternoon, Steve Kenny’s drama Time Traveller, and Maurice O’Brien’s documentary Hey Ronnie Reagan.
For the second year running, 40% of the selections are directed by female filmmakers. The short films will be presented in 10 distinct competition programs, which consist of five narrative, three documentary, one animation, and one hybrid program. The program will also include special screenings and the 12th annual Tribeca/ESPN Sports Film Festival.
"On behalf of the IFB, I would like to extend my congratulations to the short filmmakers selected for the 2018 edition of the Tribeca Film Festival. This marks a wonderful achievement for Irish film and in particular, our emerging talents, who will now have the opportunity to have their work screened on a major international platform."
"The IFB has always championed the importance of short film in providing an important launch-pad in the careers of Irish filmmakers and we are thrilled to see such a strong Irish presence at this year’s festival. We are also delighted to see Mary Shelley included in the feature film line-up following its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival last year."
James Hickey, CEO – Irish Film Board
Directed by Steve Kenny, produced by Collie McCarthy, and starring Barry Ward, Time Traveller sees a Back To The Future-obsessed boy striving to finish building his own DeLorean replica before his family are evicted from their halting site. The film, which is part of the IFB’s Focus Short strand of short films, received its world premiere earlier this year at the Galway Film Fleadh, and was awarded Best Irish Short at the Foyle Film Festival’s Light in Motion awards in Derry last November. Time Traveller will receive its New York premiere at Tribeca, featuring in the Make or Break section of the festival.
Late Afternoon, written and directed by Louise Bagnall, follows an elderly woman as she drifts back through her memories, existing between two states — the past and the present. The film will receive its New York premiere at Tribeca, screening as part of a special animation programme curated by Whoopi Goldberg. Starring Fionnula Flanagan, Late Afternoon is produced by Nuria González Blanco for Cartoon Saloon. The short won Best Animated Sequence in a Short Film at last year’s Galway Film Fleadh and most recently took home an IFTA for Best Animated Short.
Hey Ronnie Reagan, directed by Maurice O’Brien and produced by Daniel Hegarty, will receive its international premiere at Tribeca and will screen at the Home Sweet Home strand of the festival. In 1984 a tiny anonymous Tipperary village was thrust in to the world’s spotlight when US President Ronald Reagan arrived to visit his ancestral home. It was said that Ballyporeen would never be the same again.
Tribeca’s Short Film program celebrates global storytelling as over 45% of this year’s selections are international films with 22 countries represented, including: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Colombia, France, Germany Iraq, Ireland, Israel, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, Peru, Portugal, Russia, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom, Wales and the United States. A spotlight also shines locally as the popular New York shorts program returns this year with HOMEMADE, a section that features world premiere documentaries directed by New York-based filmmakers.
The timely hybrid program entitled AFTERMATH will focus on compassion and humanity as vital tools in coping with gun violence, and will include extended Q&A’s with the filmmakers of both the narrative film Surviving Theater 9 and the documentary film Lessons from a School Shooting.
The Shorts Film program runs throughout the Festival, April 18-29.