Corona Fastnet Short Film Festival (22 – 26 May 2013, Schull, West Cork)
‘Defeating Oceans Seven’ Directed by Wolfgang Merkel and Produced by Red Bull Media, is an hour long documentary about Steve Redmond‘s Oceans Seven Project, capturing the grueling essence of the open water swimming world. The film crew traveled to Japan to film the unprecedented completion of the world’s most difficult open water swimming challenge. This dramatic film centers on Redmond’s attempts on the Tsugaru Channel, requiring 5 men hanging on for their lives in rough seas to film the Irish icon as he was tossed, bruised and battered in the turbulent seas off the North Pacific. ‘Defeating Oceans Seven’ will be screened for the first time, as part of the Corona Fastnet Short Film Festival in Schull on Friday 24th of May at 6pm. Aidan Stanley will interview Steve Redmond
Steve Redmond is the first human to complete the Ocean’s Seven, which required an ability to swim in both very cold and very warm seas. It also demands the swimmer is physically and mentally prepared to overcome all conditions from strong currents to stiff winds, requiring a tremendous amount of planning and expense and a multi-national support team of knowledgeable local experts. Redmond is swept long distances due to the extraordinarily strong currents and challenged by occasional patches of cold water that flow up from the depths, high risk being an inherent element of the swim. What he achieves is quite extraordinary.
The Ocean’s Seven includes, the Irish Channel, the Cook Strait between the North and South Islands of New Zealand, the Moloka’i Channel between Oahu and Moloka’i Islands in Hawaii, the English Channel, the Catalina Channel near Los Angeles, the Tsugaru Channel between Honshu and Hokkaido in Japan, and the Strait of Gibraltar between Europe and Africa.
Each year, over the last weekend in May, the now five‐day Festival plays host to in excess of 200 short films. The commitment in Schull is to screen all of the short films entered into competition during the festival in as many different venues throughout the village as possible and to have them available on our archive for Wi-Fi viewing on smart devices within the network of Schull. The Tented Fringe will have amazing fun for all ages from Children’s Films, Puppet Shows, Puppet Making Workshops, Stop Frame Animation Workshops, Storytelling, Drama, the Cycle Cinema and much more.
The Festival is very much an ‘up close and personal’ experience. Filmmakers, directors, producers and invited guest speakers all share their experiences, giving shape and direction to each year’s challenging programme. This Short Film Festival without a Cinema invites you to explore alternatives throughout the village of Schull, providing those who attend with alternatives. Distributed Cinema is Schull’s very own intranet network dedicated to short film. From a horsebox (with HD streaming) to six marquees (with projector & screen), from a bookshop to the village hall (HD Projection) and to numerous local pubs and restaurants, Schull’s network connects, through Ethernet cable and wireless, to its own short film archive on a dedicated server. Anyone with a smartphone, laptop or iPad can access the server through Wi-Fi anywhere on the main street and watch any of the 4 years of submission films any time of the day or night.
Over 5 days at the end of May, visitors can view this year’s 150+ Competition films which will be screened in every corner of the village, attend Q&As, Premieres, Workshops and Discussions, enjoy family entertainment at the Tented Fringe all in the beautiful seaside town of Schull.
The Corona Fastnet Short Film would not be possible without the support of our Title Sponsor Barry & Fitzwilliam importers of Corona Beer and our Festival Associates William and Judith Bollinger, Benny and Cliona McCabe, Michael Satke, Frank Daly, Vivian Edward Nathan, Subaru Ireland and Digital Forge among others.
The Festival is grant aided by Cork County Council, West Cork Development Partnership, Fáilte Ireland, Culture Ireland, The Irish Film Board and The Arts Council.
Further information on www.
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