MARCELLA O’Connor is commencing her Filmmaker in Residence position in Kerry County Council next week.
Due to the high demand for filmmaker advice and facilitation in Kerry, Marcella will be providing additional filmmaking mentoring to schools in Kerry alongside the work already being done by Mieke Vanmechelen in this area.
Marcella is a filmmaker who explores art, culture, nature and history through the documentary genre.
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She is currently working on an Arts Council supported film based on the poems of Aogán Ó Rathaille. Her film, The Lament for Art O’Leary, won best documentary at the 2020 Film and Video Poetry Symposium in Los Angeles.
During her filmmaking residency for Kerry County Council, she hopes to work with school children of all ages and help them find their creative voice, to mentor aspiring filmmakers and to help community groups get started in making their own films.
“I’m looking forward to working with students and community groups,” she says. “Kerry has always been a place that values the arts and it’s exciting to play a role in helping people unleash their creativity.”
Meanwhile, Máire Holmes has completed her 2022 Writer in Residence work. Máire participated in a number of festivals, judged competition entries, facilitated workshops and took the opportunity to meet and connect with the writing community in Kerry.
The residency programmes are funded by Kerry County Council, The Arts Council and Creative Ireland Kerry.
THE residency of Kerry County Council’s current Filmmaker in Residence, Mieke Vanmechelen, has been extended by eleven weeks thanks to funding from Healthy Ireland’s #KeepWell campaign.
Mieke is currently working closely with Kenmare Youth Film, a group set up over two years ago with the help of the Kenmare Family Resource Centre.
“The arts in these difficult times helps people stay connected and provides an outlet for creative expression,” says the Mayor of Kerry, Cllr Patrick Connor-Scarteen. “I am delighted that Kerry County Council is able to offer an extension of this service to young people in Kerry.”
Mieke is also working with TY class 2021 at St Brendan’s College Killarney on a YSI project called ‘Sem against stigma’. The students want to break down the stigma, surrounding men’s mental health in our community. The work they produce will be part of the YSI Virtual SpeakOut Tour happening 12-16 April 2021.
A WRITER in Residence and Filmmaker in Residence have been appointed by Kerry County Council.
Donegal native, Annemarie Ní Churreáin, is this year’s Writer in Residence, while Filmmaker in Residence is Mieke Vanmechelen.
Annemarie Ní Churreáin is a poet and writer of creative non-fiction essays, Annemarie’s work is primarily concerned with the fragility and complexity of human relationships.
Annemarie Ní Churreáin, Writer In Residence.
She is a fluent Irish speaker who is looking forward to exploring the marks of history and mythology in the Kerry landscape.
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In addition to her work with communities and individuals, Annemarie will be touring sheelagh-na-gigs, soaking up the Dark Sky Reserve and looking at the story of Queen Scotia – daughter of an Egyptian Pharoah said to have died in battle in Kerry and be buried in Tralee.
During this residency Annemarie is working towards a new series of poems which explores the theme of female mythological characters in dialogue with Ireland today.
She will also run a series of structured and themed workshops with students, poets and creative thinkers, encouraging confidence especially among young people, supporting them to start composing, editing and sharing their own poems.
The writer works with groups and communities throughout the county. Professional writers have a long history of activity in the County working to support new talent as they discover it. They have worked with community groups, on special projects & publications, with schools and arts venues and at the same time finding inspiration in Kerry to develop their own personal work.
The Council is encouraging writers, bookshops, groups, communities and schools to make contact with them so that they can facilitate access to the Writer In Residence. Annemarie can also be contacted at writer@kerrycoco.ie
Belgian born, Mieke Vanmechelen has been living in Kerry since the early eighties and is well known in professional film circles for her outstanding work in film.
Mieke is reaching out to secondary school students on this residency and is keen to make contact with a great many schools. Her plan is to make a documentary in as many schools as possible with a strong emphasis on working collaboratively.
“I would like to work with teams of students, preferably from Junior Cert upwards, and with a total of 15 students from each school”, Mieke stated this week. “The work produced in each school will merge into a single project which will evolve from a question that is linked to the notion of diversity as well as the complexity of place and people within the county”.
Footage recorded will then serve as the basis for the project and will inspire additional footage which connects directly to the experiences/ideas/thoughts of the young people involved.
Mieke’s work will offer opportunity to explore and to tie ideas, notions and dreams together in what will be a powerful message from our young generation. “Accessibility and fun are a key part of the residency and we look forward greatly to seeing Mieke make inroads into our schools as there is a great love of film among this age group”, Kate Kennelly, Arts Officer at Kerry County Council stated about the project.
Mieke can be contacted at filmmaker@kerrycoco.ie The Filmmaker in Residence is a partnership between Kerry County Council and The Arts Council.
It is supported by the National Parks and Wildlife Service, and the Trustees of Muckross House. As an expanded partnership it demonstrates the ethos of Creative Ireland, enabling creativity in every community.
KERRY County Council has made two new appointments in both writing and filmmaking.
Ciara Hyland from Cork is the new Filmmaker in Residence while Máire Holmes, who lives in Galway, is the new Writer in Residence.
Ciara Hyland is a documentary director behind the documentary ‘Diarmuid Lynch – The Forgotten Volunteer’ about the incredible life of the last man out of the GPO for TG4. She also produces and directs documentary segments for Nationwide on RTE and for Duiche on TG4.
“I’m absolutely delighted to be the new Filmmaker in Residence,” said Ciara. “I’m thrilled to have been given this opportunity and am so looking forward to working with the people of Kerry.”
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Ciara plans on using the Residency to develop Kerry Storyscene – a digital storytelling project that opens up and gives access to the community to make their own short documentaries exploring the theme of Kerry 1916 – 2016. Possibilities for this theme include exploring history – personal or family, the Kerry landscape and heritage or even some personal opinions or poetic musings!
“Digital Storytelling has a long history of opening up documentary making to the general public – removing barriers, giving people a voice and democratizing the documentary making process. It’s a viewpoint that is very close to my heart,” says Ciara. “Everybody has something interesting to say and everybody should have the opportunity to create and shape their own stories in their own way.”
Ciara will facilitate a series of workshops around Kerry where people will learn how to put music, pictures and voiceover together to create short powerful documentaries.
Máire Holmes, new writer in residence.
Máire Holmes is the newly appointed Kerry County Council Writer in Residence. She has a lifetime’s experience in literature, writing many poetry books and plays. She has been writer in residence in Mayo, Connemara and the Aran Islands, and most recently in Kerry in 2015.
Máire’s plan for the residency is to make a one hour radio programme Kerry 1916 – 2016: From Wireless to WiFi based on writings produced by the people of Kerry during the residency. For the project Máire will work with people of all ages to cover a wide range of themes: historical, emotional, aesthetical, sporting, creative and spiritual.
“The purpose of creative writing is communication and more so, fulfilment,” says Máire, “and a radio programme can share that which springs from the heart of the writer with the heart of the listener.”
Máire will speak more about the project at Killarney Library on Culture Night, Friday, September 16 at 6pm.
KERRY County Council Filmmaker in Residence, Lisa Fingleton, has almost completed her residency and applications are being invited to succeed her in the role.
Since last September, Filmmaker in Residence Lisa Fingleton has been sharing her passion for film with schools, organisations and community groups across the county. The core themes of the residency centred on sustainability and organic growing. Lisa collaborated with farmers, community gardens and schools and created a large exhibition of new work at Siamsa Tire, Tralee called ‘Holding True Ground’.
During the Dingle Film Festival, Lisa facilitated the inaugural Kerry Filmmakers Forum. Twenty-eight filmmakers attended the forum and got the opportunity to network and explore possible collaborations. The event was the natural progression from numerous individual mentoring sessions, which Lisa facilitated around the county.
Lisa worked with Kerry Library to facilitate a number of ‘story to screen’ workshops to help children understand the process by which books become films. There was also a huge demand from schools to learn how to use iPads as multifunctional creative tools. Lisa developed dynamic, interactive workshops, which enabled children and young people to create their own movie trailers and stop motion animations.
“I was delighted to get another opportunity to work as filmmaker in residence with Kerry County Council. Technology has made film so much more accessible and it was a privilege to work with people in this creative medium,” says Lisa.
Kerry County Council Arts Office is now seeking a new filmmaker in residence. The brief can be downloaded from www.kerrycoco.ie or email arts@kerrycoco.ie. The closing date for applications has been extended to May 12.
