'Proceeds of Crime' Screens in ANIMAZE Montreal

Huge thanks to Cashell Horgan for including my 'Proceeds of Crime' film in his 'Irish Focus' selection in Montreal International Film Festival's ANIMAZE.

'The Proceeds of Crime' - An animators dark and comic response to a gangland feud in Ireland 2016.

'The Irish spotlight curated by Cashell Horgan will showcase  just a small sample of the finest animated shorts being produced in Ireland over the past two years, reflecting the diverse story telling and styles of current Irish filmmakers in animation. The selection was made possible with the support of The Irish Film Board, Network Ireland, Wildcard Distribution, Ballyfermot Senior College and IADT and Irish Animators'

'Proceeds' is screened in exalted company. Thanks again to Cashell!

http://beochan.scannain.com/festival/animaze-irish-2016/

http://www.iftn.ie/markets_festivals/festivals_news/?act1=record&only=1&aid=73&rid=4289450&tpl=archnews&force=1

http://animazefestival.com/selections-animaze-2016/

Bailebeag and The Death of Gordon Murray - creator of Camberwick Green, Trumpton, Chigley and other worlds...

Thanks to my brother James for sending on the link to the Guardian's obituary for Gordon Murray, creator of Camberwick Green, Trumpton, Chigley and other stopmotion worlds... Camberwick Green started in 1966 and my father Jim Quin followed just over a decade later, with his Irish equivalent 'Bailebeag' (small town), commissioned by Liam O Murchu in RTE. The parallels between Murray's worlds and the world of Bailebeag were similar - with a distinctly retro-looking, unmodern view of society (at the time, I always felt that Murray's series had been made sometime in the early 1950s!).

Da (Jim Quin) with his (1977) version of Quin Films 'Bailebeag' - ping pong character heads!

As the Guardian obituary points out, Murray's Camberwick Green, Chigley and Trumpton were set in an idealised pre-WW1 Edwardian society, a time when England seemed uncorrupted by war, crime,societal change or class struggle. Bailebeag, with its short trousers, summer sunshine and male-dominated Irish rural idyll was set in some vague pre-mechanised 1940's summertime Ireland, the world of my father's childhood, where the priest and the Garda Sergeant were the definitive authority figures and where the postman was an exotic, bicycle borne traveller linking the parish together on a daily basis, powered by gossip and news. Not only was there no crime in Bailebeag - it never even rained in Bailebeag!

Sergeant Pat and Jimmy from the later (1984) version of Quin Films 'Bailebeag'

The original (1977) Bailebeag series shared Gordon Murray's stopmotion technical origins, with ping pong ball heads, magnetic feet and cardboard houses - very little of those originals (characters or sets) survived, although we didn't 'burn everything on a bonfire' like Gordon Murray. A lot of vehicles and props were 'bought off the shelf' in nick nack stores like Hector Grey's in Liffey Street. I was 15 or 16 at the time, fascinated by learning the 16mm and TV ropes with Da, Bill Russell, Pat Hayes, Alan Pleass and others and discovering that I could actually animate the characters and tell stories onscreen. The first Bailebeag series were shot in the converted attic of our house in 32 Leopardstown Gardens - truly the first stopmotion studio in Ireland.

Gordon Murray showed us a wonderfully metronomic way to tell childrens' TV stories, but Eric Thompson's reinterpretations of Serge Danot's 'Magic Roundabout' showed us how such childrens' programming could be both entertaining and anarchic. Later, Jiri Trnka showed how simple techniques could tell complex narratives and people like RTE's Joe O Donnell showed how childrens' programming could and should be a noble profession, not a mere stepping stone to a TV career path.

Bill Russell, Bolex and Da (Jim Quin) with the original (1977) version of Quin Films 'Bailebeag'

My career since has persisted with an explorations of the untapped potentials of stopmotion and animation. Whilst I'm not producing for TV any longer, I'm still endeavouring to make anarchic short films, new media and longer form projects. The learning, exploration and (occasionally) discovery continues... Thanks to all the early pioneers - Gordon Murray included!

Gordon Murray - creator of Trumpton, Camberwick Green, Chigley and other worlds...

https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2016/jun/30/gordon-murray-obituary-creator-of-trumpton 

http://www.davidquin.ie/quinfilms.html

LYIT panel - Higher Diploma in 3D Modelling and Animation

Thanks to all (especially AnneMarie Kelly) in LYIT for inviting me to be part of a (Thursday 23rd of June) panel for their proposed Higher Diploma in Arts in 3D Modelling and Animation. Thanks also to fellow panel members Terry Quigley (University of Ulster), Edward Harte (360 Productions) and Conann (University of Ulster), ably chaired by Dermot Finan. Well done to all!

LYIT entrance steps

LYIT interior

Tempus ALIGN - Ukraina site visits - Taras Shevchenko National University webpage!

Here's a link (from Olga Yamkova) on Taras Shevchenko National University's website (all in Ukrainian), discussing our recent Tempus ALIGN site visit...

http://univ.kiev.ua/news/7855
http://vnz.org.ua/novyny/podiyi/9318-u-kyyivskomu-natsionalnomu-universyteti-imeni-tarasa-shevchenka-tryvae-realizatsija-proektu-tempus-align

panel arrives at the university (image from Vladimir Zaslavskiy)

panel at Museum Village outside Kyiv - Olga, DQ, Hyland, Iryna, Vladimir, Stefania

(image from Vladimir Zaslavskiy)

panel at Museum Village outside Kyiv -  Hyland, Iryna, Stefania, DQ, Vladimir

(image from Vladimir Zaslavskiy)

Homeland at Damer House Gallery, Roscrea

Thanks to Patricia Hurl and Therry Rudin for including a 9 minute loop of our 'Carriglea - Witness to History' animated collage in Damer House Gallery's 'Homeland - A Terrible Beauty is Born' exhibition, which opened on Saturday afternoon (18th June). Some really excellent video responses on show, in an excellent space, with fantastic hosts!

Homeland - Damer House - Patricia Hurl

Homeland - Damer House - The Artists

Homeland - Damer House - exhibition blurb

Homeland - Damer House - Therry Rudin   

Homeland - Damer House - exhibition info

Homeland - Damer House - speeches

https://www.facebook.com/DamerHouseGallery/

To watch our Carriglea animations...

http://carraiglea-witness.blogspot.ie/search/label/George

http://carraiglea-witness.blogspot.ie/2016/04/what-george-saw.html

http://carraiglea-witness.blogspot.ie/2016/04/the-sherwood-foresters-at-carriglea.html

'The Proceeds of Crime' in Galway Film Fleadh!

Jazis! My latest no-budget collaged animated offering 'The Proceeds of Crime' is scheduled as the closing film in this year's Galway Film Fleadh - New Irish Shorts, Programme 8, on Sun 10 July in the Town Hall Theatre at 12.00. I've described 'Proceeds' as 'an alphabetical journey through Ireland's 2016 gangland'. Thanks to Jennie Kelly for producing!

Congrats also to IADT graduates Fionn Boland, Catherine O Brien, Kimi Kurbanova, Elle Power and Ruth Redmond, Fiona Ryan, Olya Golubeva, Keith Kavanagh and Kayleigh Scullion for getting their films into the same programme!!!

http://www.galwayfilmfleadh.com/index.php/project/new-irish-shorts-8-animation/

Tempus ALIGN Ukraina site visits - Taras Shevchenko Kyiv

Monday the 13th and Tuesday 14th of June saw us conducting Tempus ALIGN site visits in Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv. Two programmes 'Business Informatics' and 'Sociology' were peer reviewed, again from a developmental rather than an accreditation perspective. Thanks to our great friends and colleagues Vladimir Zaslavsky and Olga Yamkova for looking after us during our Kyiv stay! And thanks to all the members of our Kyiv peer review panel - especially Nikita, Andrei, Anatoli as well as our core panel Stefania, Liza Sozinova and I, once again expertly chaired by Paul Hyland!

Taras Shevchenko National University is uniquely placed to take advantage of the international and mobility opportunities which will be presented over the coming years as education in Ukraina moves towards closer alignment with Europe's Bologna Process.

Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv - concrete

Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv

Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv - gable wall in the city

Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv - village museum

Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv - village museum - Tsymbaly musician

Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv - village museum - Hyland masters the Tsymbaly

Taras Shevchenko's house interior - village museum

Taras Shevchenko's house interior

Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv - village museum - Vlodimir and Iryna

Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv - village museum - picnic

Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv - lunchtime

Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv - fog

National Ballet Kyiv

National Ballet - orchestra pit

National Ballet - Petro