Animation in Ireland

Over the last few years Irish animation has moved to the forefront of the animation industry.  With companies such as Brown Bag Films, Barley Films and Cartoon Saloon churning out award-winning works by talented animators, it’s no surprise that this multi-million euro industry is doing so well.

But animation is not new to Ireland. In the 1980s classic companies such as Sullivan-Bluth, Murakami-Wolf-Swenson and Emerald City began making names for themselves by becoming the leading animation studios.  These days Brown Bag, Barley, and Cartoon Saloon are taking the lead and giving us some of the most visually stunning and clever animated films available.  Cartoon Saloon’s The Secret of Kells was nominated for an Oscar alongside Disney’s Up last year.

This year’s Capital Irish Film Festival features 5 animated shorts and 1 animated feature:

Days Like This
Lament
Granny O’Grimm’s Sleeping Beauty
Donkey
Old Fangs
The Secret of Kells

Flickerpix Animations is based in Belfast and was created by Joel Simon, a
Belgian who spent much of his childhood drawing comic strips vaguely
inspired by Tintin and other Belgian super heroes. Flickerpix’s aim is to
create images that engage the senses and the emotions as in Days Like This
which illustrates the simple, yet extraordinary story of a boy who shared
one memorable day with his distant father at an international soccer game,
set in Dublin.

Damian Byrne initially studied animation at Ballyfermot College of Art and
Design in Dublin before going on to further study in Scotland. He has a
passion for painting and while researching Celtic mythology for some of
his illustrations he fell in love with the medieval Irish text ‘Aided
Oenfer Aoife’ (The death of Aoife’s only son) in which the mighty warrior
Queen Aoife takes revenge on the hero Cuchulainn by tricking him into
slaying his only son. That story became his first solo project, Lament.

Brown Bag Films was conceived in 1994 by Cathal Gaffney and Darragh O’Connell.  The two had a concept for an animated television series called Peig Created Brown Bag Films, and thus began their journey into the world of award-winning character-based animation (including an Oscar nomination for Give up yer Aul Sins in 2002).  Their studio is located in Dublin City and continues to produce “quality, endearing original characters.”  There latest endeavor Granny O’Grimm’s Sleeping Beauty (also nominated for an Oscar in 2010) will be featured at CIFF this year.

Barley Films, a relatively new studio, was established in 2002.  They have produced 9 animated shorts and have won many awards in festivals.  Last year we featured Agricultural Report, the hilarious short about a cow worried that she may have developed foot and mouth disease! Barley Films is currently finishing up their 10th animated short Little Caribou. This year we will feature Donkey, a 2 and 1/2 minute short about a donkey who is unsatisfied with his job at the local beach.

Our final featured animation studio is Cartoon Saloon.  Beginning as an informal partnership between Paul Young and Tomm Moore.  Over the years it has produced both award nominated and award winning animated shorts and features.   Creating films such as  From Darkness, the tone of many of their films is much darker than those of the other films featured this year.  Casting light on the beauty that can arise from this darkness.  Both films featured in the festival this year, Old Fangs and The Secret of Kells present us with a veritable feast of colors and emotions.  Old Fangs tells the story of a young wolf who travels back to the home he grew up in to see his father, who he has not seen since childhood.  The Secret of Kells, nominated for an Oscar in 2009, is the only full length animated feature in this years festival.  It is truly a masterpiece.

The films selected in the category of animation represent some of the amazing talent that Irish animation studios are currently producing.

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