Irish short chosen for Cannes Film Festival
Irish short film ‘Undressing My Mother’ has been selected to screen during International Critics Week at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival, it emerged today.
The film, directed by up-and-coming director Ken Wardrop, is the only Irish short selected to be shown as part of this year’s festival, which runs from May 10 to 22.
International Critics Week is the oldest sidebar event at the Cannes Film Festival and is dedicated to showcasing new talent.
Many famous directors have been discovered by the Critics Week including Bernardo Bertolucci, Barbet Schroeder, Ken Loach, Wong Kar Waï, Jacques Audiard, Arnaud Desplechin and François Ozon.
‘Undressing My Mother’ is a poignant short documentary film in which a filmmaker explores his mother’s unique take on her overweight and ageing body.
Produced by Andrew Freedman, it has already picked up a host of awards including Best Short Film at the Irish Film & Television Awards 2004, Best Documentary at the Tempere Film Festival 2005 and the Jameson Best Irish film award at the Cork Film Festival.
Director Ken Wardrop said he was thrilled by how the film had been received.
“Both Andrew and I are delighted with the positive receptions our short films are receiving at festivals internationally,” he said.
“It is an exciting opportunity to us as we venture from the student film world into the industry. Our screening at Cannes will hopefully help to launch our production company, Venom, both nationally and internationally.”
Brendan McCarthy, Head of Production & Development at the Irish film Board, said the film was typical of the high quality of young Irish film-making.
“The Irish Film Board is delighted to provide funding for ‘Undressing My Mother’,” he said.
“This short film is an example of the high standard of new Irish talent emerging in the Irish film industry. Ken is a very talented director and we look forward to working with Venon Film in the future.”
Ken Wardrop has recently completed his studies at the National Film School, IADT-DL, specialising in directing documentary film.
He also scooped the O2 Student Film of the Year Prize for the last two consecutive years. His films include the award-winning shorts ‘Dampened Spirits’, ‘Love is Like a Butterfly’ and ‘Useless Dog’.
‘Undressing My Mother’ was produced by Venom Film as a graduate film with the National Film School, IADT, and received completion funding from Bord Scannan na hEireann/the Irish Film Board.
Venom Film was co-founded by Ken Wardrop and Andrew Freedman and they currently have a number of projects in development.
