Wexford County Council Arts office in association with Bodecii Film announces Winner Wexford Film Fund Award 2019
Wexford County Council Arts Office in association with Wexford Production Company ‘Bodecii Film’ have announced the winner of its new Wexford Film Fund Award for 2019. The winning Film Production team consists of Film Director Brian Rossney, Producer Edwina Forkin (Zanzibar Productions) and Wexford writer Hannah McNiven.
The aim of this new Film Fund is to provide funding and support to film making teams seeking to develop ambitious and creative short films based in County Wexford. The award consists of €10,000, an additional €1,800 in equipment/lighting hire from Teach Solais, Ireland’s leading Film/TV lighting and generator Hire Company well as project management support from Bodecii Film.
The focus of this inaugural Film Fund Award was on writer/ director/ producer collaborations.
In 2018 the arts office in partnership with Bodecii film initiated the Wexford Screen Writers Professional Development Programme where 10 Wexford based writers were selected to take part in a series of free workshops that took place in the National Opera House. The writers were mentored over the course of the year by leading film industry professionals including writer Eugene O Brien (Eden, Pure Mule), Showrunner/Writer/Producer Paul Walker (Red Rock, EastEnders), Writer/Director Ian Power (The Runaway, The Guarantee, The Tattoo) and pitching workshops with David Kavanagh.
The outcome of this intensive screen writing programme were ten short film screenplays. The 10 Wexford writers were invited to pitch their screen plays in Dublin in 2018 at a networking event of Irish directors and producers organised in partnership with The Screen Directors Guild of Ireland. The aim of this event was for the emerging Wexford writers to team up with both established and emerging Irish film Director and Producers.
As an outcome, six Wexford writers teamed up with Directors and Producers and presented their short film proposal to a selection panel in Wexford County Council in October 2018.
The successful team were Wexford writer Hannah McNiven, director Brian Rossney, and Producer Edwina Forkin ( Zanzibar Productions) for their short film proposal titled ‘Bog Lady’ to be shot on location in Wexford in 2019 .
County Arts officer Liz Burns commented
“We’re really excited to be initiating this Film Award In 2019, and supporting local Wexford talent like Hannah McNiven as well as established film directors and producers. We hope this new Film Award will help nurture local film talent, and develop skills, as well as increase awareness of the stunning variety of film locations in the county, where Saving Private Ryan, Brooklyn and the more recent The Lodgers were all filmed on location. We look forward to working with our key partner ‘Bodecii Film’ on this award over the coming years with the aim of supporting the development of the film sector in the South East and boosting employment in this growing industry.”
Writer/Director Laura Way of Bodecii Films commented
“Irelands film and TV industry has a worldwide reputation of excellence built on its talent. By investing in Wexfords own creative talent through mentorship, training and funding and by providing opportunities for local film makers to develop professional relationships within the film industry, we are enabling industry growth while promoting the County as a “film friendly” primary filming location. This initiative is an important step towards the growth of County Wexfords indigenous film and TV industry and I am excited to see where the coming years of collaboration with the Wexford County Councils Arts Office will take us.”
BIOGRAPHIES
Brian Rossney is an award winning commercials director and film writer/director/producer with a vast array of art-direction and post-production skills at his disposal. This includes VFX, 3D animation and Pre-visualisation/Digital Storyboarding. In addition to directing, Brian is a producer and has spent over 6 years producing countless live action and animation productions for Paddy Power Betfair and many years before that producing promotional content for television, Cinema and on-line.
Brian, who has a master’s degree in Creative Production & Screen Finance from Dún Laoghaire Institute of Art, Design and Technology, is currently Film and Commercials Director at Rossney Pictures Ltd.. He has won awards including the Irish Design Institute (IDI) Award for ‘Best entry in the Animation & Graphics’ Category, IDI, Best Screenplay , Melbourne Film Festival, Best Film, Galway Fringe Film Festival and has received nominations for the Grand Prix Award for ‘Best Design’ Entry and Writers Guild of Ireland Zebbie Nomination for Best Screenplay
Edwina Forkin is a producer with 20 years’ experience in Film, Television and Commercial production. She is the Founder of Zanzibar Films, an independent Production company in Ireland set up in 1998 which has produced over 41 award winning film and TV productions. In 2011, Zanzibar Films/Edwina Forkin was nominated for “Best Film” for four different films at the Irish Film and TV Awards (The IFTA’s). Her film, “Sanctuary” won ‘Best Film’ at Galway Film Fleadh and ‘Best Director’ at Newport Beach Film Festival as well as The Michael Dwyer Discovery Award at Dublin International Film Festival.
Edwina Forkin is also a partner of Nantosuelta Entertainment Films, founded in 2017- an Irish Production Company offering finance to foreign filmmakers. She also works on a freelance basis as a Producer / Service Producer and Line Producer / Production Manager with a solid track record in Feature Films, as well as TV and Print commercials. Her recent clients include Kilbeggan Whiskey, Workday, and Tourism Ireland, with both digital and online media campaigns.
Hannah McNiven is a twenty-five-year-old Wexford native with an undergraduate degree in English with Drama from UCD (graduated 2013) and a postgraduate degree in Drama and Theatre Studies from NUI Galway (graduated 2015).
Having spent time in both Dublin and latterly Galway, Hannah returned home to Wexford and now acts with local theatre groups and works day to day training young horses and teaching in primary schools. Hannah’s writing switches between various forms, depending on which medium she believes best serves the story she is telling. She finds that she is often drawn to tell stories with a rural setting or with characters from a rural background given her own agricultural upbringing and current employment.
Hannah’s recent works include, Touched, a Spoken Word Performance as part of The Seed to Stage Programme in Wexford Arts Centre in 2017, and Day to remember, a short story Long Listed for the Colm Tóibín Short Story Award in 2017
Bodecii Film is a Wexford based Production Company developing original indigenous TV and Film and was founded by award winning writer/director Laura Way. In 2016 and 2017 Way was nominated and received an honourable mention at the ICADS Young Director Awards for her promo of Changeling (original TV series currently in development) and The Journey Home, a Bodecii Brand Film for Focus Ireland which went on to be a national Christmas TV campaign.
With Bodecii Film Way conceptualized, wrote, produced and directed Ronan Furlongs music video ‘Hoplite Armour’ for Hub Music which went to No.1 in the iTunes Music Video Charts last year. She wrote/directed and produced “I Can’t Sleep” for Focus Ireland, a short 3 minute brand film that was the focus of a national youth homelessness awareness campaign that received extensive online media coverage and won four categories in the National Fundraising Awards. Laura has written, produced and directed much of her own work including, short films, music videos and commercials. She is co-creator/director of Rising and Changeling, drama series currently in development. Laura is a director on the third season of TV3 drama series Red Rock, on Amazon and BBC. She is currently directing BBC continuing drama, EastEnders.
