Author: Press Officer

Fastnet Film Festival is delighted to announce its ongoing collaboration with IMRO. Film Music in Focus Curator Maurice Seezer has created a very special programme for visitors to Schull to enjoy. The partnership with IMRO has helped facilitate some ambitious and collaborative performances over the years and this year will be no exception. The Festival will run from Wednesday the 25th to Sunday the 29th of May in the seaside village of Schull.

“IMRO is delighted to continue its association with the Fastnet Film Festival.  Celebrating the very best in independent film making from Ireland and around the world for over a decade, the festival provides an invaluable platform for film industry professionals to showcase their work.  A broad spectrum of seminars, interviews, masterclass and workshops covering such topics as casting, screenwriting, music score composition, costume design, auditioning and so much more make this a must attend event for industry professionals and film fans alike”.  Keith Johnson, Director of Marketing & Membership IMRO.

A diverse Music in Film Programme that highlights the crucial role music plays in film:

Friday 27th May 2022

Oscar Winning Composer Stephen Warbeck is bringing his Feature Film ‘Man in the Hat’ and its leading Award Winning Actor Ciaran Hinds to Schull in May. Largely silent, the film is interrupted by regular bursts of music, with new songs from Stephen Warbeck, Schubert Lieder sung by the incomparable Mark Padmore, Canteloube aria from the Cevennes, and Try a Little Tenderness, amongst others.

Saturday 28th May 2022

2 hour Masterclass with Oscar winning composer Stephen Warbeck. Hosted by Maurice Seezer. This will be a unique opportunity where attendees will be able to see Stephen at work, composing in Realtime.

Stephen Warbeck writes extensively for film, television and theatre.  He is best known for his score for ‘Shakespeare in Love’ for which he won an Academy Award.  Other films include ‘The Children Act’, ‘Float like a Butterfly’, ‘Hampstead’, ‘Killing Bono’, ‘Billy Elliot’, ‘Mystics’, ‘Captain Corelli’s Mandolin’, ‘Charlotte Gray’ and ‘Mrs Brown’.  Television includes ‘King Lear’, ‘The Dresser’, BBC series ‘Henry IV’ and ‘The Hollow Crown’, for which he won a BAFTA Award. Theatre includes ‘Translations’, ‘Wolf Hall’ and ‘Bring up the Bodies’, ‘An Inspector Calls’, ‘Jerusalem’ and ‘This House’.  He also writes music for his band The Kippers.

Sound Masterclass with 2 Award winning Sound Engineers Brendan Rehill and Steve Fanagan.

Steve Fanagan is a BAFTA (Normal People) and Emmy (Game Of Thrones) nominated sound designer, sound editor, and re-recording mixer who has worked a broad spectrum of projects across film and television including Lenny Abrahamson’s Oscar Winning Room, Benjamin Cleary’s Swan Song and the upcoming BBC/Hulu series Conversations With Friends.

Brendan Rehill is an award winning sound designer, sound editor, and re-recording mixer who recently won the IFTA for best sound for his work on Tom Sullivan’s Arracht. His recent credits include Kate Dolan’s award winning You Are Not My Mother and Frank Berry’s much anticipated Aisha.

Music in Film quiz by Maurice Seezer, with live performances from a host of talented musicians.

Sunday 29th May

Free Outdoor screening in the Park of ‘Breaking Out’

Award-winning feature documentary celebrating the remarkable life of the late Irish musician Fergus O’Farrell who was the charismatic voice of Interference, one of the most influential bands of the Irish music scene in the 1990s.

Interference and Friends

To celebrate Breaking Out’s emotional and inspirational soundtrack, Interference (and other guest musicians) will perform a special live show in tribute to Fergus O’Farrell.

The Festival has become a major showcase for Irish and International short film production, focusing on the craft of film which is held in high regard on a local, national and international level for several years now. The Festival this year will include the likes of Aisling Walsh, Lenny Abrahamson, Ed Guiney, David Puttnam plus over 40 more expert guests taking part in Seminars, Masterclasses, Q&As and Workshops. It is an up close and personal festival where first-time filmmakers and world-renowned film experts share the same space.

The highlight of the Festival this year will be the outdoor screening of ‘Breaking Out’ and live tribute concert to Fergus O’Farrell by Interference and guests.

This year the festival received over 400 short film submissions from 31 countries worldwide, Local Interest Films, World Cinema Programmes to include a Focus on Scottish Film.

Alongside the screening of 280 short films and 13 features, visitors to the festival can enjoy: High quality Children’s activities, enjoy live music at several venues around town, take the ferry to Cape Clear for Irish Day, experience Café Viewing at one of the many restaurants and pubs in Schull, fun movie quiz, outdoor cinema and much more.

For more information check out www.fastnetfilmfestival.com

For Those I Love has been announced as the winner of the RTÉ Choice Music Prize Irish Album of the Year 2021 for the album For Those I Love (September Recordings). Noel Hogan, from The Cranberries, made the announcement in Vicar St after the judging panel, made up of Irish music media professionals and chaired by Jim Carroll, met up this evening to decide on the winning album.

For Those I Love received a cheque for €10,000, a prize which has been provided by the Irish Music Rights Organisation (IMRO) and the Irish Recorded Music Association (IRMA), as well as a specially-commissioned award.

The event, hosted by Tracy Clifford, took place live in Vicar St and on RTÉ2FM with exclusive performances from eight of the nominated artists.

Dermot Kennedy has been voted the RTÉ Choice Music Prize Irish Song of the Year for his song ‘Better Days’. The announcement was made earlier today by The Script’s, Danny O’Donoghue on the Tracy Clifford Show on RTÉ 2FM and live streamed on RTÉ Player. ‘Better Days’ by Dermot Kennedy was selected from a shortlist of 10 songs by public vote (Ireland only), via the RTÉ 2FM and Choice Music Prize websites. Fans were given the chance to get behind their favourite Irish song of 2021 until midnight on Sunday 27th February.

RTÉ2 will broadcast a one-hour TV programme of the RTÉ Choice Music Prize, featuring performances from the eight acts, along with interviews by Bláthnaid Treacy, on Sunday March 13^th at 11pm.

The 2021 album shortlist:

Bicep – Isles (Ninja Tune)
Mick Flannery & Susan O’Neill – In the Game (Rosaleen Records / Rosa Productions)
For Those I Love – For Those I Love (September Recordings)
Orla Gartland – Woman on the Internet (New Friends Music)
HousePlants – Dry Goods (Bone China Records)
Kojaque – Town’s Dead (Soft Boy Records)
Elaine Mai – Home (Elaine Mai)
Saint Sister – Where I Should End (Saint Sister)
Soda Blonde – Small Talk (Velveteen Records)
Villagers – Fever Dreams (Domino)

Photos by Graham Keogh

It is heart breaking to see the destruction, the devastation, and the human misery caused by the Russian government’s invasion into Ukraine. Destruction is the very antithesis of creation, it is the very opposite of what we do in our work every day. 

IMRO and its  partners around the world lament the human tragedy now unfolding in Ukraine and condemns the brutal assault by Russia on freedom and human rights. We stand alongside our colleagues and partners in Ukraine and our partners and friends at the Ukrainian Agency of Copyright and Related Rights (UACRR) who are suffering from the war instigated by the Russian Government. Their work is to support creativity, art and culture – precious qualities that enrich our lives and communities, but which are now under attack and facing terrible humanitarian consequences. Our thoughts are with friends and creators who have been forced to flee their homes, hide in shelters and take to the streets to fight to protect their country and freedoms.

We encourage in the strongest terms the path of dialogue and co-operation and insist on an end to aggression and violence. Our thoughts are with the Ukrainian people, standing defiantly in this unthinkable situation.

To those of you who may be touring on the road at this time, I urge you to include a piece of music from a living Ukrainian songwriter or composer. We stand with them in solidarity, in spirit and in harmony. 

IMRO Chair
Eleanor McEvoy

The series – featuring in depth interviews with, and performances by Gemma Hayes, Damien Dempsey, Mary Coughlan, Tim Wheeler of Ash, Conor O’Brien of Villagers and Andy Irvine & Donal Lunny – aims to deliver unique insights into some of the most critically acclaimed and commercially successful albums in Irish music history.

All six broadcasts from the Hot Press Up Close and Personal series – featuring Gemma Hayes, Damien Dempsey, Mary Coughlan, Tim Wheeler of Ash, Conor O’Brien of Villagers and Andy Irvine & Donal Lunny – are now available to view on the Hot Press YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/user/hotpressmagazine)

For what is the first run of this unique series, Hot Press selected six classic – and enormously successful – Irish albums, crossing decades and genres. The programmes take a deep dive into the stories behind each LP, with the artist recalling the circumstances of the time, the influences, the songwriting process, the recording of the albums – and much more besides – in the company of interviewers specially selected for each album.  The series is produced by Hot Press in association with Aidan Shortall of Up Close and Personal Promotions.

Chronicling historic moments – from the release of Planxty in 1973 to Villagers’ Awayland in 2013 – the Up Close and Personal series, held at the Grand Social  over a series if six special nights late last year – explores 40 years of Irish music history, with eye-opening new revelations and reflections shared by the artists at the centre of the albums. For fans, students and practitioners of Irish music, it’s an unmissable series.

“These six special events turned out to be absolutely brilliant nights,” Hot Press editor Niall Stokes said. “There was such a sense of occasion, and also a marvellous feeling of warmth. It was fantastic – and inspiring – to hear the artists recall the circumstances surrounding the release of the records and to hear them talk in detail about the way wonderful songs are written, and great albums come together.”

“We’re really proud of how the videos turned out,” Niall Stokes added. “The are beautifully shot and the performances throughout are really amazing. There is so much to be learned from each and every one – about songs, songwriting, the influence of producers, choosing songs to record, making great records, and so on. There is a wonderful, hugely revealing aspect to the whole enterprise, with the artists expressing themselves very powerfully and with wonderful honesty. But there is also a rich vein of humour that makes them marvellously entertaining.

“Really, they should be viewed by anyone with an interest in Irish music, and in Irish songwriting.”

The full line-up 

• Gemma Hayes – Night On My Side (January 20) – Presented by Lucy O’Toole – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCAnOWH9wLY
• Mary Coughlan – Tired & Emotional (January 27) – Presented by Paul Nolan – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bgu_FaFT7Rk
• Damien Dempsey – Seize The Day (February 3) – Presented by Lucy O’Toole – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8ed23JOMcA
•  Ash (Tim Wheeler) – 1977 (February 10) – Presented by Paul McLoone –  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=16XvTvv4K10
• Villagers (Conor J. O’Brien) – Awayland (February 17) – Presented by Paul McLoone – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4c4wwsFfBI 
• Planxty (Andy Irvine & Donal Lunny) – Planxty (February 24) – Presented by Pat Carty – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QnJaZ-UCQt4

This special series of intimate conversations, is produced by Hot Press, in association with Aidan Shortall of Up Close and Personal Promotions, and supported by the Live Performance Support Scheme and the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media.