OPPORTUNITIES FOR PLYMOUTH INDEPENDENTS ON THE CELTIC FRINGE - 2007
OPPORTUNITIES FOR PLYMOUTH INDEPENDENTS ON THE CELTIC FRINGE
Mick Catmull from A38 Films reports on the Celtic Media Festival, held this year on the Isle of Skye
The Celtic Media Festival is an annual three-day celebration of “broadcasting, film talent and excellence” from Scotland, Ireland, Wales, Cornwall and Brittany. It’s held in a different country each year. Last year it was the turn of Cornwall and it came to Falmouth. This year it was Scotland and we all fetched up on the Isle of Skye
The Festival supposedly exists to promote the languages and cultures of the Celtic countries on screen and in broadcasting but it’s a lot broader than that. It’s been going since 1980 but it took Cornwall seventeen years to persuade the Celtic big guns to let them in. The sticking point was Cornwall’s lack of a living Celtic language. It’s the cause of some debate as to when exactly Cornish died out but there have been strenuous efforts to revive their native tongue and it’s on the point of being recognized as an official minority language by the European Union
QUALIFICATION
To qualify for participation at each year’s Festival a member country has to submit at least one production in its native language. Cornwall has just about managed to do this every year since it gained entry in 1997. It’s been a struggle though and it’s worth any potential festival goers out there remembering that if they could somehow manage to make a film in Cornish they’d have a good chance of it getting on the shortlist
Entries are accepted on any subject. Entries from outside the Celtic countries are accepted where the subject matter relates to aspects of life and culture, past, present or future of a Celtic country. Celtic language productions are featured, as are first productions from new directors
Qualifying for the Festival is a lot more open than might first appear to be the case. A Scottish entry can qualify not only if it was made in Gaelic on the outer Hebrides but also if it’s an English language film made about a contemporary issue on a Glasgow housing estate. It can even qualify if it’s a film made by a Scottish company working out in Bosnia, or if it’s a “Scottish” film made in Scotland by an outside company
Cornwall is at a disadvantage, compared to its Celtic cousins. Local radio stations perform well in Cornwall but unlike their fellow Celts, the Cornish have no dedicated TV broadcaster. With the notable exceptions of Sevenstones, Denham and Triple Echo, there is little in the way of independent broadcast production. All these companies could submit productions of any sort on any subject, Celtic or not, whether they be made in Cornwall in Cornish or elsewhere in English. I don’t think this is generally known (although I do believe Denham may some time ago have submitted the Rick Stein programmes made in Cornwall)
To get a programme short-listed a company has to first submit it to their local jury, in our case the Cornish one. They then select which Cornish entries they want to go forward. The call for entries is in the autumn
I was on Skye because A38 Films’ “Handliners”, our film about West Cornwall’s inshore mackerel fishermen, was short-listed for the Festival’s Documentary Award. Would it be of interest to other broadcasters? I was also there to catch up with old friends and explore once again those pipedream possibilities for co-production, which look entirely feasible in the fug of a late night festival bar
THE PROGRAMME
The programme provides options in each time slot. So you could, for example, go and listen to S4C’s chief executive Iona Jones talking about the challenges facing her Welsh language speaking channel, or choose instead to go listen to a quasi-academic discussion about what it meant a Celt in the 21st century. (Difficult to grasp. The main thing it seems is you’re not English)
The Festival ran more or less like clockwork, The sessions were well organized and of a standard you’d expect from a professional gathering anywhere in the UK
Every lunchtime there’s a presentation of one or other of the many and varied festival categories: animation, current affairs, documentary feature, factual documentary, arts documentary, short drama, drama series, feature length drama, education, entertainment, sport profile, radio documentary, children and young people, radio station of the year, radio presenter, website and interactive.
Yes, it’s a long list. But Ireland, Scotland and Wales all have several broadcasters each. With its fair sprinkling of new media companies there must be opportunities for some of the younger PM-P members who want to get noticed but only if they make their production Cornish in some way
In the evening there’s always a major screening. This year they premiered SEACHD, a Gaelic language feature about traditional storytelling, shot on Skye; TRUE NORTH, a gritty contemporary drama about illegal Chinese immigrants aboard a Scottish fishing boat and Kevin MacDonald’s film about Idi Amin, THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND. The screening of the latter illustrates the difficulty an outsider might have in identifying exactly what makes the Festival “Celtic”
In the evening there’s usually a sponsored party somewhere with an opportunity for congenial schmoozing, followed by a late night session in the festival bar which invariably involves a good deal of Celtic singing
A FEW SURPRISES
This year’s festival provided a few telling surprises. First, there was the name change. It used to be the Celtic Film and Television Festival. The new name signified current developments in our industry, as did the very first session: Multi-Platform Opportunities, Multi-Platform Commissioning
Second, there was more talk about the Celtic cringe than the Celtic fringe, an acknowledgement that previous ways in which the Festival had characterized itself were at best old fashioned, at worst simply inaccurate. Most authoritative research now suggests little “racial” difference between the Celts and their English neighbours. Differences are more due to history and culture and a political resistance towards the centre of power in London. That this change in self-perception has occurred the same time that the Scots and Welsh have achieved differing degrees of political independence is surely no coincidence
Finally, more worryingly, for the first time in my memory, there were no sessions where broadcasters set out their stalls and invited independents to pitch, or where possibilities for co-production were discussed. This suggested either that there are now fewer opportunities on offer, or perhaps more accurately, that’s not the way it happens
Another reason could be that by and large the festival caters for broadcasters more than for independents. After all, the locations might be stunningly beautiful, as this one truly was, but they are a long way away for most people, in places where there are few cheap flights. And look when the festival is held – on three weekdays. Broadcasters are on expenses and paid to be there. For independents it’s an expensive unpaid three days
Oh – and we didn’t win. No surprises there then. In fact this was the first year no Cornish entrant won anything (not that they usually manage much more). As for selling my programme, who wants single films these days? And co-productions? That’s tough when you’re around a table with independents who can bring some of their national broadcaster’s money to the table..
NEXT YEAR GALWAY
Next year’s Festival is in Galway. Despite my reservations, if you’ve got a qualifying film or programme you want to get into Festival I’d still recommend it. Especially if PM-P bursaries are available again. (There are additional separate bursaries available if you’re based in Cornwall). And by all accounts, Galway is a fabulous place. It’ll be worth going just for the crack. It costs £60 per person if you’re an independent, £20 if you’re a student. (2007 prices.) If you can’t afford it, you’ll have to wait for it to come back to Cornwall, in three or four years time
