didn’t command the levels of respect that they do now. Filmbase supported films have featured actors like Cillian Murphy, Gerard McSorley, Stephen Rea, Brendan Gleeson, Ciaran Hinds, Robert Sheehan, Alison Doody, Moe Dunford, Brian Gleeson, Aoibhinn McGinnity, Martin McCann, Nora-Jane Noone, John Connors, Mary Murray, Hugh O’Connor, Eoin Macken, Eamonn Owens, John Kavanagh, Antonia Campbell-Hughes, Ger Ryan, Derbhle Crotty and Dylan Moran amongst many, many others.
I look back at how my career and work as a filmmaker has grown and wonder how things would have been had I not had Filmbase as a resource and support structure. I like to think I would have found a way to have my voice heard, that my tenacity would have led to a successful career. I don’t know, but I do know it would have been a hell of a lot more difficult.
I am genuinely concerned for the future generations of filmmakers who will have to navigate their way into the industry without a resource like Filmbase, particularly those filmmakers from traditionally less affluent areas.
We are in danger of losing those future artists, of never hearing their voices. The loss of Filmbase will leave a massive vacuum. Young men and women with talent and something to say, but lacking in family and social connections, or without the financial clout of others, will be left without a way in. An industry that already stands accused of being elitist and classist will only become more so.
I’ve seen several people opine on social media that the Arts Council has no interest in funding film, that they see it as the job of the Irish Film Board to do that. I don’t know if that’s true, but even if it were, funding Filmbase is not just about funding film, it is about supporting the careers of artists of all descriptions.
In a number of years when Filmbase has been active an equivalent amount of Arts Council money was channeled toward funding the yearly salary of a single individual artistic director in theatre.
Arts Council funded projects that have budgets in the hundreds of
thousands come and go without a trace. Stack that against an institution that has launched and supported the careers of thousands over more than three decades, leading to countless works of art that endure. How does that tally? Who is making these decisions and how can they be held to account?
There is a lot of speculation about how Filmbase found its way into this position. At its core the problem came down to a shortfall in financial support. The staff at Filmbase have somehow managed to keep the place going long after it should have been impossible. Making great personal and professional sacrifices they have ensured that the doors always stayed open, that filmmakers always had a place to congregate and find support and advice. Their commitment to providing that resource and fostering the careers of thousands of filmmakers is unparalleled in this country. To think that they accomplished so much with so little in the way of support makes the current situation all the more difficult to take.
Filmbase is not just important, it is vital. We have to do everything we can to keep it alive.
Graham Cantwell is a multi award winning, IFTA nominated Irish director and writer, who achieved early acclaim when his short film A Dublin Story won several awards and was shortlisted for Academy Award nomination in 2004.
His most recent film, LGBT short drama LILY, won the Tiernan McBride Award for Best Short Drama at its premiere screening at The 2016 Galway Film Fleadh, qualifying it for Academy Award consideration. It won the Best Narrative Short Award at the Santa Fe Film Festival, where Graham also picked up a Courage in Cinema Award for his work promoting awareness of those marginalised by society. The film also won the Best Irish Short Award at the Audi Dublin International Film Festival and screened at the prestigious Savannah Film Festival amongst others. The film was recently nominated for an Irish Film and Television Academy Award.
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