Oscar-nominated director Colm Bairead has told of his pride that An Cailin Ciuin has set a “precedent” for Irish language movies to achieve global success.
The film is the first Irish-language feature film to be nominated in the International Feature Film category at the Academy Awards, which take place on Sunday, March 12.
Colm said the prestigious nomination and global recognition will hopefully inspire Irish filmmakers.
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He told us: “Where there wasn’t before, there is now a precedent. Filmmakers can look to this film and say well you can make an Irish language film that can do well at the box office and it can travel the world and even get nominated for an Oscar in the international category. There is no reason why film makers shouldn’t aspire to that again.”
Colm told us the moment he found out about the Oscar nomination, saying he gathered cast and crew at the Stella Theatre in Rathmines in Dublin for the big moment.
“It was lovely. We gathered all the cast and crew together in the Stella in Rathmines and we watched it on the big screen live so it kind of turned into a bit of a party. It was a lovely way to mark the occasion.”
He said a day after the nominations were announced, he got a “lovely email” from Michael Fassbender and Catriona Balfe congratulating him on the nod.
“I got a lovely email from Michael Fassbender the day after the nomination. Catriona Balfe was in touch as well. They said 'congratulations', 'amazing', 'fair play'.
"A lot of these people have been so helpful to us over the course of the campaign. They’ve been hosting screenings for us in LA and New York. We really feel so supported by the Irish in Hollywood as well.”
An Cailin Ciuin holds a special place personally for Colm and his wife, Cleona, who also produced the movie.
The couple are parents to two young children and said the movie means a “great deal” to them as a family.
“It’s hugely meaningful to me as somebody who was raised through the Irish language bilingually. "My dad always spoke Irish and my mum spoke English. The Irish language has always been a part of me. I did all my schooling through Irish. Myself and my wife, Cleona, who is the producer of An Cailin Ciuin, we have two young kids. We raise them through Irish.
“So to us, it means a great deal because it’s not only our own thing but in a sense it is something we made for our own kids. It’s something we can look back on and hopefully other films will follow in our steps.
“Our kids are four and six. They are aware of the film but I think they have to grow up a little bit more before they can really engage with it.
“Having said that, whenever we’re in Tesco and we are going past the DVD aisle, our kids will point out oh 'An Cailin Ciuin'. They’re certainly aware of it.
“It’s been an incredible journey for us as a married couple. This has been an adventure that has all come through our house. The entire thing… like our office is our house. Everything literally flows through it, so it has been a beautiful thing to experience.”
An Cailin Ciuin will make its US debut on February 24, just under a month before Colm and Cleona travel to LA for the Oscars.
“We’re releasing in the US on February 24 and we’ll be over way before that because the Oscars campaign will be in full swing.
“We’re trying to raise the profile of the film at all times.”
But speaking at Screen Ireland’s 2023 TV and film announcements at the Clayton Hotel in Ballsbridge, Colm said he will be trying to refrain from walking up to some of Hollywood’s biggest directors and telling them how much he is a huge fan of theirs.
He said: “I’m sure it’ll be mind-blowing because you will be surrounded by all these people that I’ve grown up watching on the big screen, people that I usually admire so the hard part will be like stopping myself from introducing myself to everyone and saying how much I love their work.
“The really nice thing is there is a nominees' luncheon on February 13 so all the nominees are just gathered together. Apparently, it's a really magical thing … all these amazing directors will be there and the cast and everything.
“I’m really looking forward to that event in particular.”
Colm was joined by a host of Irish talent at Screen Ireland’s event in Dublin on Tuesday, including actress Eve Hewson who was joined by Oscar winner John Carney to talk about their new movie Flora and Son, which will be released to audiences this year after its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival.
Speaking about working on Flora and Son, Eve, who plays a Dublin single mum, said: “It’s been so special working on an Irish character with Irish writers and Irish directors and just getting to be at home is such a different feeling.
“For people to know I’m Irish too, which is nice.”
But she joked that despite the film's already early success, she is still living at home with famous parents u2 frontman Bono and Ali.
Speaking at the launch of the new slate, John said: “It’s beautiful to see a small Island nation come up against the giant of Hollywood through years of seeding and financing talent.
“To see our actors, directors, writers and producers accepted and celebrated overseas in numerous festivals, theatres, and awards, is a testament to arts funding, and would be next to impossible without support and cultivation of talent. "In the film business particularly, be wary of anyone who tells you they’ve done it on their own. It’s an art form that is simply impossible without generous support.”
Charlene McKenna, who stars in RTE’s upcoming Clean Sweep, also discussed her voice role in animated feature film A Greyhound of a Girl, based on the short story from Roddy Doyle.
She said: “I love this film. It’s based on Roddy Doyle’s book of the same name. We did it in 2018 but because of Covid, we had several setbacks. It’s very sad but it’s a very fun take on the sadness and it’s just gorgeous. There is one line that I won’t say but I had to do over and over again, every single time, I cried.
“I play a ghost, which is weird because the first thing in my professional career I ever played was a ghost. I’m coming back and taking someone with me who I wanted to take for a very long time.”
The movie will premiere at the Berlinale Film Festival next month in the same slot that An Cailin Ciuin previously premiered in.
At the slate launch, emerging writer/director Eva Birthistle discussed her debut feature film, Kathleen, which begins production next month.
Eva, who was awarded Development Funding for the project prior to it going into production, said: “It’s an incredibly exciting time for Irish film. I’m thrilled to be part of Screen Ireland’s slate for 2023. Production is about to begin on my first feature film Kathleen. "Only for Screen Ireland’s continued support over the last few years, my move from actor to director has been made possible, highlighting how critical it is for the industry that we have a national agency that can support talent through every stage of their career.”
Documentary highlights in the Slate include Gar O’Rourke’s Ukraine-set Sanatorium, while upcoming animated TV series include new episodes of Atom Town, a STEM educational children’s series based on the Periodic Table.
TV dramas coming in 2023 to the small screen include Element Pictures’ The Dry, which will premiere in March on RTÉ; Clean Sweep later this year; and Season 2 and 3 of popular returning series Kin and Smother respectively.
According to Screen Ireland, production spend in the Irish economy hit a record high in 2021, particularly due to things cranking up again after the Covid lockdowns.
It recorded a spend of €361,487 million, which was driven by both Irish and international productions. This was an increase of €4 million from 2019.
When it came to skills training, 2022 saw a total of more than 3,500 skills development placements across Section 481 (the film tax credit) training, courses and other skills development initiatives, including mentorships and more.
In order to target talent and skills outside of Dublin and Wicklow, a new fund has been set up to support regional activity, Screen Ireland said today. The Regional Support Fund is designed to support the development of skills around the country, outside of those two counties.
The fund is targeted at crew across all grades, including new entrants. It will also require commitments in the areas of diversity and inclusion, sustainable production and on-set initiatives, said Screen Ireland, which has ring fenced €3.5 million from its 2023 Budget for the fund.
It also noted that 47% of the local Irish feature film and TV drama in its 2023 slate were produced or filmed on location in regional areas, including Donegal, Limerick, Clare, Galway and Mayo.
On the topic of sustainable filmmaking, it was confirmed that funding will be available for all Screen-Ireland supported productions to engage a Sustainability Advisor in addition to the requirement for productions to document their carbon footprints.
Meanwhile, in terms of helping the mental health of film creatives, one of the guests at today’s event was Dave Reid, the founder of Minding Creative Minds. He spoke about new supports available for people working in the screen industry (under funding provided by the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media), through Minding Creative Minds.
This includes mental health supports like weekly counselling sessions for a period of 12 weeks, and legal, financial and career advice.
Désirée Finnegan, Chief Executive of Fís Éireann/Screen Ireland, said today that the slate’s wide scope of productions is “a testament to all the creative talent that worked on them”.
Susan Bergin, Chair of Fís Éireann/Screen Ireland, said that their focus is on sustainable growth of the industry into the future. “That involves prioritising regional activity, continuing to drive skills development, and creating a supportive and inclusive industry through initiatives such as Minding Creative Minds,” she said.
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