31/05/2005

Ken Loach’s The Wind That Shakes The Barley which just started shooting in and around Cork last week, is the first feature film project to be awarded support from two new Irish Film Board (IFB)’s funds: the Revolving Pre-Production Cashflow Fund and the Regional Film and Television Fund.

The IFB CEO Mark Woods reminded the benefits of those two funds: "The revolving pre-production fund can assist producers –including non-Irish producers co-producing with Ireland such as Loach’s UK producer Rebecca O’Brien (Sixteen Films) co-producing with Irish partners Andrew Lowe and Ed Guiney (Element Films)- during what can be a very stressful time for production, and the Regional Film & TV Fund has opened up a host of new locations throughout Ireland previously unused due to budget constraints. Both of these initiatives were made possible by Mr John O’Donoghue, Irish Minister of Arts, Sports and Tourism who increased the IFB budget by 22% in 2005."

Loach’s Irish Civil War drama written by the director’s long-time collaborator Paul Laverty, stars Cilian Murphy (Batman Returns), Liam Cunningham (A Love Divided) and emerging talent Padraic Delaney. The European co-production between Sixteen Films (UK), Element Films (Ireland), EMC Asset Management (Germany), Bianca Film/BIM Distribuzione (Italy) and Tornasol Films (Spain) was also awarded co-financing by the UK Film Council, the IFB, Filmstiftung Nordrhein-Westfalen and is sold worldwide by Pathe International.