03/11/2003

The Irish Film Board took advantage of the Irish Film and Television Awards ceremony last Saturday, to launch a booklet called ‘Irish Film/Irish culture’ urging the Irish government to continue supporting the local film industry.

In the booklet, 27 names from the industry, including Jim Sheridan, Neil Jordan, Kieron J Walsh (When Brendan Met Trudy), two times Oscar winner, Michele Burke and writer Roddy Doyle, build a case for the continuation of the Section 481 tax break which the Irish government plans to scrap after December 2004.
“As Intermission has just become IFB’s highest grossing film at home, and Goldfish Memory, Cowboys & Angels and the award-winning Chavez-The Revolution Will Not Be Televised gain US sales, it is timely to have Ireland’s leading lights from the film community reflect on the importance of having secure government funding support for the creation of Irish films on Irish screens”, said the IFB’s Chairman, Ossie Kilkenny. “In just ten years, the IFB has been central in helping to build solid foundations for a sustainable and viable national film industry. We are reaching a critical mass and we need to build on this momentum. Only through adequate and secure funding as set out in the Government’s own report, Strategic Development of Irish Film and Television Industry 2000-2010, can we fully and properly achieve this”.
Neil Jordan added: “To define a country as a country…it needs two things: an airline and an industry, and by industry that doesn’t mean Coca Cola plants or Microsoft outposts but…a film industry”.