WITH the Irish Film and Television Awards (IFTA) gone, “the Richard Harris International Film Festival (RHIFF) is now Ireland’s only gala awards competition for film makers,” festival founder Zeb Moore states. “We have seven days of craic, films, networking and I’ll say it again, networking.
“Of all the film festivals in Ireland, we were the one chosen by the Global Ireland Festival,” a partnership that plays to a worldwide profile, netting the Irish diaspora making films in other continents.
RHIFF has had seven years of relentless growth with coups such as being the only festival in the country to honour the Oscar nominated film ‘Detriment’ in 2018.
Speaking at Friday 4’s event at The George Hotel, “Last year we screened 125 films from 25 different countries,” Zeb said, to underline momentum. “This year we are hitting on the 150 film mark from 30 countries throughout the world. We have looked at how we became different to any other film festival in Ireland.
“Now we have IMET, the new media technology summit, that encapsulates all aspects of Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality technology. It takes place over three days in Engine building, Cecil Street, in association with Simmotion and Immersive VR Education.”
View the bouncy schedule of feature and documentary premieres plus workshops, masterclasses, student screenings, Q&A and panel of actors/ producers/ film makers attending on richardharrisfilm.com
IMET summit events sound electric. There is the ‘Apollo 11’ by which landing on the moon can be simulated; the ‘1943 – Berlin Blitz VR Experience’ and the ‘Bellingcat’ unit investigating the world of fake news, followed by a Q&A with director Hans Pool.
Special mention to ‘The Vasectomy Doctor’, produced by our own Ronan Cassidy and starring Zeb, which “has picked up six or seven awards on the festival circuit already.”
Limerick Post cornered RHIFF chairman and co-founder Rob Gill to elaborate on the unique VR unit, taking place October 22 to 24 and on other stories. He is excited about the joined-up drive in building international respect and traction from industry heavy hitters.
“Our year on year growth is 20 per cent minimum,” states Rob, a film maker/ financial analyst. “We began in 2013 with 10 films and the Richard Harris retrospective running over a day and a half. This year we have 30 countries taking part, films from Turkey, Iran and Ukraine – Iran has a lot of film making and is very big on animation.
“Some of the shorts we have are Oscar nominated such as ‘Skin’ and we have a wide range of submissions. This year there is plenty of local interest such as the world premiere of Brian Reddin’s documentary on Richard Harris, with contributions from Robert Duvall and Tom Berenger. We worked with Brian last year for his Constance Smith documentary.”
The IMET platform is a first ever for the country, Rob makes clear, but for sure, there is attention to mainstream film making such as director Damien O’Connor’s masterclass on animation, “from concept to production. He is with Brown Bag whose ‘Angela’s Christmas’ will screen, with Malachy McCourt speaking..
Photo: Don Moloney / Press 22
“That’s very much part of the film festival, as much as the Tech hub. As is Terry McMahon’s film on Saturday 26 at Belltable, his documentary ‘The Prizefighter’ on Spike O’Sullivan – who is still in his 30s and got a shot at the big time.” Q&A with director and cast/ crew follows.
Other staples such as Sunday’s Gala Red Carpet Awards in Millennium Theatre LIT, Newport Beach Film Festival competition for shorts, and the Live Script Read are highlights in the heady seven days of talent pooling, premieres and production hotshots.
October 22 to Monday 28, multi-site.
