The Conversation claims Judges' Award at the Dare2BDrinkAware awards

Last week I went down to Dublin with the crew of The Conversation to attend the Dare2BDrinkAware awards, and we walked away with the Runners Up Prize in the Judges Choice category. This was a great achievement for the team, and thoroughly deserved by the whole team.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Cassie Stokes from 3e presents us with the Runners Up award"][/caption]

The awards were judged by RTE presenter, John Kelly, 3e presenters Caroline Twohig and Cassie Stokes, John Kennedy from Silicone Republic and director of As If I'm Not There, Jaunita Wilson.

It was a great night for Institute of Technology Tallaght with the team who took first prize and People's Choice for their film, Babes in Bits, also from the college to complete a clean sweep for the department for the film awards.

DrinkAware is an organisation that seeks to raise awareness of alcohol's detrimental effects, especially among the 18-29 age group and this aim was highlighted in all the short-listed productions. All the shortlisted films can be viewed on their website, and this is the final edit of The Conversation.

[vimeo http://www.vimeo.com/21287799]

New film Rent a Life completed

This week I received the final cut of the Declan Murray-directed film, Rent a Life. This was the film I was shooting before Christmas, with Shauna Coyles producing, James Ward as DP, Conall McMeekin on sound, and Kerri Kelly editing.

The production values were great, and the story, about an alcoholic struggling through a job interview, was presented beautifully. My co star, Eamonn Devlin played the part of the slightly unhinged interviewer to a tee.

I'll post a clip of the video here when the film is online.

Incident at Vichy ticket update: Tonight SOLD OUT

Tickets for tonight's performance of Incident at Vichy have sold out. There are still some tickets left for tomorrow (less than 10)^± and Saturday (less than 20)^±. To purchase your tickets, go to the Crescent's online box office.

^±_{ticket numbers correct as of 10am Thursday.}

Trailer for Lord of the Rings prequel Hope released

Today the trailer for Ben Mudge's Lord of the Rings prequel, Hope, has been released, to much salivating from a baying public, no doubt. Or myself at least, since this has been a project I was incredibly impressed by.

Ben's ambition has been bold, considering he had such a limited budget, but I think the results really speak for themselves.



Helping out in post production were Jonny Walker, editing, and Chris McCann providing the emphatic score.

My congratulations go out to all involved, and I can't wait to see the full length picture doing the festival circuit.

Screening of Number 35 at QFT

Deborah McCartney informed me yesterday that the film Number 35 (title subject to change) is to be screened in the QFT on Wednesday.

This is a film I have been really looking forward to seeing, based on a family's coping with a bereavement, while also sorting out the intricacies of bequeathments.

The film was directed by Cliodhna O'Halloran, and written by Shauna Mohan, who I expect will be in attendance.

Incidentally, the completion of this project means that I only have to wait for the full length edit of Hope to complete my current show reel. I will be posting it as soon as I have it completed.

Screening of Hope in Odeon, Belfast

Tonight, Hope, the Lord of the Rings film I acted in was screened in the Odeon cinema in Belfast, as part of the HND show for Belfast Metropolitan College.



The show was huge hit, and was among the most popular of the evening, the audience rapt by the visual spectacle of the piece.

The film was edited down from 11 minutes to seven, and even then it was two minutes longer than the brief allowed, but I guess the invigilators were so impressed that they overlooked this. Unfortunately my major scene was one of the big casualties of the cut.

All the guys were there, Chris, Jonny, Aisling, and of course, the director, Ben.

It was great to see the finished project, but I can't wait to see the full length version.