Janey Pictures News

32A for the Leaving...

2010-08-24T08:27:00.000-07:00

First things first, 32A is on the Leaving Cert English course for the class of 2012. Which is fantastic. And we really do hope that the students enjoy 32A.

Secondly, we thought we should let you know that the good folks at the IFI have done a study guide which is available from their site. This features interviews and an analysis of the film which should be useful. In addition to that, we also have a study guide prepared for students of English in Germany which accompanied our tour around cinemas over there. People might find the differences and similarities interesting.

Feel free to peruse and download the stills and clips and reviews and history here on our site.

And finally, and not least, the DVD is still available for sale at these links!

The Future of Cinema in 1979

2010-04-25T15:13:00.000-07:00

Francis Ford Coppola calls it in 1979.

It's the year 32A is set in so... heck we thought we'd share. They're about to award the directing Oscar to Michael Cimino for The Deer Hunter and something tells me he didn't let Ali McGraw know what he was going to chat about. And while he was wrong about the Eighties... in principle he was right on the money.

OpenIndie

2010-03-24T04:36:00.000-07:00

We’ve been big fans of Arin Crumley and Susan Buice’s Four Eyed Monsters project, a pioneering approach by two filmmakers who blended their online presence, video podcasts, crowd-sourced screenings and the feature itself to bring a small film to a global audience.

Arin has partnered with Kieran Masterson in the UK to develop a new venture OpenIndie. And we’re proud to be a part of that with our feature 32A.

Essentially it’s way that distribution can happen in a very local way, people can log in and express interest in exhibiting feature films to audiences. It could be an individual theatre, or a film society or a particular College or Festival. Filmmakers can, in turn, choose where to show and in what way, either via download or print.

Why the need for this? Independent filmmakers are seeking new ways of reaching audiences as the global market becomes ever more cautious and studios move towards guaranteed success with hugely marketed rides like Tron Legacy or Avatar. Moviemaking becomes more like engineering and less like storytelling. Part of the answer lies in embracing the web technologies, from audience reach and promotion to actual film downloads, when you make a connection with your audience that’s based upon a relationship.

OpenIndie is at an early beta phase right now and things are still being rolled out but they're off to a great start and it’s a ground up venture initiated by filmmakers themselves.

A few new things underway

2010-03-20T09:38:00.000-07:00

It’s March... My goodness. How did that happen. We must have been busy...

We’ve recently been producing a website for an author friend of ours Ivan Robertson. He’s someone we’ve known for a while and who’s written work for us, including the low budget The Angelus, an Irish Film Board Short Short a few years ago. It toured on 50 prints around Ireland with Bruce Almighty, so quite well known to a few people. A spoof of Ireland’s Angelus on television, it’s even spawned a few spoofs itself.

Ivan is an author and we’re publishing with him a set of short stories entitled Routes 1&9. A collection of ten stories covering the distance between a roadside motel in Oregon, a gas station in Ohio, a dead man’s basement in Upstate New York, and the Harry Truman Museum. Some of the stories were first published in The Stinging Fly and Books Ireland.

We’re releasing the stories progressively, people can download the audiobook format, the PDFs or listen directly on the site. Heck, there’s even a podcast. Ivan writes a mean blog as well, an interesting twist on what a writer’s blog can be.

Anyway, hope you enjoy, please check it out. www.ivanrobertson.com

On the Telly over the Christmas…

2009-12-23T20:53:00.000-08:00

First of all, thank you to all of you who picked up the DVD of 32A. It means a lot to us that so many of you rented the DVD. In fact a lot of you bought it which is amazing. We’ve had wonderful comments and feedback from everyone, which is much appreciated, thanks to all.

Now it’s Christmas and hopefully a few of you will be getting up to a DVD of 32A in your stocking. And in case Santa doesn’t pop one in, you’ll be glad to hear that 32A is on RTE2 this coming New Year’s Eve at 9.00PM. We’re not quite a Morecambe and Wise Christmas Special but it’s still nice to be part of so many people’s Christmas.

Bit Torrent

2009-11-26T13:24:00.000-08:00

It’s like picking up mercury... or herding cats... or supporting the Irish soccer team... Keeping 32A off BitTorrent can feel like a pretty futile exercise however worthy.

So, while we’d really appreciate if people bought the DVD we realise that many people are watching downloaded copies. So we just decided we might as well up a virtual Tip Jar. So if you enjoyed 32A. perhaps you might like deposit a few shekels in it. All of which will help us get to our next project. Cheers...

In the afternoon..

2009-10-23T11:15:00.000-07:00

32A got a nice recommendation on the Afternoon Show on RTE 1 this afternoon which was terrific.

And the wonderful Ian Dempsey on TodayFM gave 32A great mention on the show. His daughter has apparently watched it 450 times...

We're on the buses...

2009-10-08T12:20:00.000-07:00

We're happy to see these running on the streets of Dublin... a great move from our distributors, Element Pictures.

32A DVD cover

2009-09-30T14:56:00.000-07:00

The cover art is in... getting closer now :-)

32A DVD

2009-09-22T12:57:00.000-07:00

Great news! The DVD of 32A will be released in Ireland on Friday, October 16th. Available to purchase on that day directly via this site and our distributor, Element. We'll also be available for rent in Xtravision and other stores nationwide.

You can pre-order on Amazon.co.uk. It'll be a little longer there, a couple of weeks. I'll have Irish links up as soon as we have them.

Made in Leitrim

2009-08-30T03:37:00.000-07:00

32A is being shown in Dromahaire next weekend as part of the Made in Leitrim festival, screened by Cinema North West.

From the CNW prrogramme...

--
In recent years, Leitrim and the surrounding counties has become the base for a number of filmmakers. It's also host to a unique venue in Ireland, Cinema North West, a touring cinema which highlights world cinema.

This weekend these two come together in a celebration of recent films by these filmmakers in the village of Dromahair.

As our industry faces its most serious challenges in decades it's a chance to come and see some of the work that has been made locally to date.

The programme is:

Saturday 5th September
3.00 - surprise Kids movie
7.00 - 32A, directed by Marian Quinn
9.00 - Fall into Half Angel, directed by Roisin Loughrey
9:30 - Korea, directed by Cathal Black

Sunday 6th September
3.00 - surprise Kids movie
5:30 - Three Days in Summer, directed by Ronan Gallagher
7.00 - Teamhair (Tara), directed by Colm Stapleton
9.00 - Na Coisithe (The Walkers), directed by Johnny Gogan

32A, directed by Marian Quinn and produced by Tommy Weir, both based in Dromahair, is a multi-award winning feature which tells the story of 13-year old Maeve and her three best friends in Dublin of 1979.

Fall into Half Angel, directed by Manorhamilton based Roisin Loughrey, has won several awards, it tells the story of two trapeze artists who used to go out together but who must still remain on intimate terms. Roisin also has an exhibition opening in Leitrim Sculpture Centre on Friday 18th September.

Korea, directed by Cathal Black, designed by Sligoman Frank Conway, is a classic in Irish film history. Shot in and around Dromahair, this adaptation of a John McGahern short story is set in the 1950s. It tells of a father's attempt to get his son to enlist for the Korean war.

Three Days in Summer, directed by Mohill-based Ronan Gallagher, is a documentary about his neighbour, the late John McGahern.

Teamhair (Tara), directed by Riverstown based Colm Stapleton, is a documentary focussing on the Hill of Tara and her 5,500 year long history. It explores the web of spiritual and temporal power that has held a fascination for Ireland against the current backdrop of the the construction of the M3.

Na Coisithe (The Walkers), directed by Dromahaire based Johnny Gogan, profiles his grandfather, a poet, politician and inventor of words. In 1915, the Leitrim revolutionary, Séan MacDiarmada asked Liam Gógan if there was a word for 'republic' in Irish. There wasn't, but Gogan came up with the word "poblacht' and it ended up the first word in the 1916 Proclamation.

Reviews in Germany

2009-08-17T05:46:00.000-07:00

Well, we’ve gotten some excellent reviews in Germany thanks to the sterling efforts of our distributor Fugu Films and coproducer Flying Moon. Now the only English links below are the two ExBerliner magazine articles, but for the others we did a quick Google Translate and have pulled a quote or two out.

Thomas Vorwerk - www.satt.org
“A film by Marian Quinn, who also worked as an actress, sister of Aidan, but also aesthetically a revelation”

Hendrike Bake - www.programmkino.de
“a film for teenagers and adults: tender, wistful, funny, very close to the experiences and emotions of the girls”

Diego Hernandez - Exberliner 73, June 2009 (pdf, e)
“Unlike many others of its kind, this film actually manages to evoke the spirit of pre-teen girls as they discover the joys and frustrations of finding an identity” Also ExBerliner featured an interview with Marian - Exberliner 73 (pdf, engl)

Michael Pöppl - Zitty 13 / 2009 (pdf)
“The film lives primarily from the naturalness of the group of girls, perfect acting.”

Thorsten Krüger - Blickpunkt:Film (pdf)
“a gorgeous, half-autobiographical memory of youth”

Manfred Riepe - epd Film (pdf)
“an atmospheric, lushly staged teenage comedy”

YouTube and filmmaking

2009-07-25T16:18:00.000-07:00

I’ve blogged over the past few years about Four Eyed Monsters from their innovative podcasts to their launch on YouTube. It’s great to see their work finally being seen as the pioneering work it was.

Arin Crumley’s follow on projects, DIY Days and From Here to Awesome have been favourites of ours. I particularly enjoyed his contributions to this panel discussion on YouTube focussing on digital distribution and open source cinema.

So is it cloudy or bright?

2009-07-15T12:44:00.000-07:00

Depends where you’re looking really. That’s the Film Board’s Galway offices in the building on the lower right of that picture. We were in Galway recently for the Galway Film Fleadh. We had some great pitching sessions, it felt good to get out there again...

The industry has a lot of challenges facing it internationally and locally too, given the pressure on government spending. The Board had organised a timely round table discussion called The Real Deal focussing on the impact and implications of digital distribution in the future of film. This follows on from discussion by Mark Gill in LA last year and James Stern this year on the absence of a clear model for a financial future for film makers or distributors. This is of course exactly the same discourse that has already been played out in the music business.

Quite a bit of debate focussed on theatrical distribution and whether independent cinema can survive.

That’s something that I think each of us answers every time we go to a cinema. We sit in that space, where people gather as a group and sit in the dark, to a flickering light, and pay quiet attention as a story unfolds. For me, that space is mythic, deep in our psyche, it’s a fundamental part of being a human.

Given digital options, given that people have a choice whether to download for free at home or go out and pay, the question for theatrical becomes just this... Can it be re-invented so as the experience of it is great, truly great?

Apple have shown that if the experience is great it can work. Enough people, when they have a choice between dodgy and free or easy and paid, will choose easy and paid for a viable business model. The question is not whether theatrical distribution will endure for independent cinema, the question actually is, how great an experience are we providing? How can we improve it? How can we make it truly great?

For us here in Janey, the sky is definitely brightening. For us, the answers lie in being small and nimble, developing great projects, and working in new innovative ways, building and engaging audiences in a rich and deep manner. As film makers it is when we sit with audiences in the dark and go with them on the films journey, sensing them rise and fall with the story. Or when we read their emails, twitter posts, or YouTube comments that the work ultimately becomes rewarding. For us it’s all about the audience. We seek to embrace digital technologies, which will come as no surprise to those who know us. And we’re planning some exciting projects which focus on audiences over the coming months.

New clips and stuff

2009-07-04T06:37:00.000-07:00

You mightn’t notice the new links on the left... so I thought I’d point out the new page of clips from 32A. We’ve also added some new stills from 32A. and (finally...) a page of quotes from the lovely reviews we’ve received.

Thirteen Redux

2009-07-03T08:45:00.000-07:00

Good news if you’re in New York and want to catch 32A. It’s screening this Saturday, July 4th, Independence Day, on PBS, Channel 13, at 11:15PM. Just the thing after a long day at a barbeque, and you finally retreat to your sofa... If you’re going to be later than that, you can catch it at 2:35AM very early Sunday Morning :-)

There’s some nice comments via the link above from people who caught 32A on PBS last time. We enjoyed all the Twitter activity that time too, so we will tune in again for that.

Best Movies by Farr: 32A from Reel 13 on Vimeo.

Jim Farr on Thirteen gives pointers to other Irish movies he likes after his intro to 32A.

It's a German Thing...

2009-07-03T07:34:00.000-07:00

32A opened last weekend to great reviews in Germany. That’s the poster for the German release.

ExBerliner, the principal English language magazine said “The story's beauty lies in its simplicity. Quinn is as unpretentious as she is professional, portraying a series of recognizable situations that are bound to make viewers smile and sigh at the resurrection of childhood memories.”. The full review is here.

Initially it screens in Berlin and Frankfurt and then going to other venues. 32A will also open a series of films which tour schools in Germany called (ahem) Britfilms.

An oldie but...

2009-06-17T11:28:00.000-07:00

A goodie... A very belated and happy congrats to our Director of Photography, PJ Dillon on his IFTA Award for Cinematography for his work on 32A. A gifted, talented man in many regards, his own debut feature is due soon. We’d worked with PJ in New York on Marian’s first film. He’s also shot two other short films we’ve produced which Pat and Joe Walker have directed. He really did stellar work on 32A and we were thrilled he got it. And I know it meant a lot to PJ to receive it from Chris Doyle, the incredible cinematographer, who delighted in keeping RTE on their toes, I can tell you.

Back again...

2009-06-17T11:05:00.000-07:00

Okay. All those warnings about backing up your HD... they’re true folks. We had a big old crash this Spring and it’s taken some time to get everything back up and running. We had moved out of our studio at the Model Arts Centre but not fully into our new luxurious, eh, shed in the back garden, and had for a whole year, stepped away from our usual, very responsible backup routine. And Murphy’s law being what it is... Yikes.

All of which is thankfully over now. One of the things we lost was the ability to frequently update our site, so apologies for the absence of news. We’ve managed to reconstruct everything locally and can now move on. So, onto some updates....

Flurry of Festivals coming up

2009-02-10T15:09:00.000-08:00

Okay... a flurry of festivals are coming up.

For Valentines... straight after the IFTAs, (of which more anon...) the Glasgow Film Festival on Monday 16th and Tuesday 17th, which we will be attending.

Then all in and around St. Patrick’s Day

- New York at the Craic Festival, on Friday 13th.

- San Francisco at the Irish Film Festival,

- The Women’s Film Festival in Vermont

We’re also screening in the Garter Lane Arts Centre in Waterford as part of their Spring Season on Sunday 15th March.

Oh... then there's... the IFTAs...

2009-01-21T09:31:00.000-08:00

Well, fantastic news really. 32A is shortlisted for Best Feature in this years IFTA awards, which is very nice. Thanks guys.

The other good news to report is that our wonderful Director of Photography, PJ Dillon is nominated for Best Cinematography and he is in with an excellent chance, his work has been widely praised since our film launched.

Also, our wonderful Costume Designer, Driscoll Calder,is nominnated. She did such a marvellous job, came in under budget on a tiny budget, a huge cast, and a period film. The woman’s not only talented, she’s amazing.

Channel 13 / WNET

2009-01-21T09:23:00.000-08:00

There’s something about bring on Thirteen/WNET that gives us no small amount of pleasure. It was definitely the principal television channel we watched during our time in NYC. It’s one of the things we miss most about being over here. Thankfully we get to watch the ever excellent Charlie Rose online and we buy quite a few of the shows on iTunes but we still miss our Thirteen.

So it gives us a lot of pleasure to say that on Saturday 14th, PBS viewers in the city... you can watch 32A in the metropolitan area. We’re screening as part of their Reel13 programme.

Spring Festivals

2009-01-21T08:59:00.000-08:00

'Shout' nominated for Hollywood Music Awards

2008-11-04T00:09:00.000-08:00

The lovely and talented Donna Lewis whose song ‘Shout’ is in our film, has been nominated in the Pop category for a Hollywood Music Award.

Shout is our one contemporary song in the film, the minute our composer Gerry Leonard recommended it to us, we knew it was right for the end titles. Gerry had worked with Donna on her last album, In The Pink, and thought it would be a good match.

Thought you might all enjoy the video for Shout and congrats to Donna on the song being nominated. Terrific news!

Sao Paolo, Brazil

2008-10-23T16:03:00.000-07:00

Okay, it’s their 32nd festival but we own their ass....

Our first screenings in South America at it’s most prestigious film festival, the Sao Paolo International Film Festival. To say ‘Wish we were there...’ doesn’t really begin to describe how we feel about it. Still three screenings next week and we’ll be lighting the old candles back here in wintry wet Leitrim.

Got to get one of those posters.