Ten finalists have been selected for the annual Pitching Competition, sponsored by Wild Atlantic Pictures. Each will deliver a 90-second “Elevator Pitch” of their film project in front of a live audience and a panel of industry judges, competing for a cash prize of €3,000.
The ten finalists and their projects are:
- Sarah Jane Scott — Between Shifts
- Eoin Lyons — Burning Down the House
- Ray Sullivan — Copy Cat
- Ali Hardiman — Craft
- Shannon Cotter — Dark Waters
- Kate Finegan — Gammy
- Brian Brennan — Italia ’90
- Keelan Gallagher — Pride of the Parish
- Daria Matsak — Rented Earth
- Yannick Jamey — The Ruin of the Earth
This year’s judges
David Pope is a script consultant and screenwriter working internationally. He has script-consulted globally on feature films and TV dramas, including on multiple candidates for the Best International Film Academy Award and on slates of projects for national and regional screen agencies around the world. His many current industry development contributions include designing and delivering programmes for Stowe Story Labs and serving as the annual advisor and facilitator for the Rotterdam Lab at IFFR Pro.
Sarah Cleary has, as Senior Development Executive at Wild Atlantic Pictures for the past five years, worked across a busy and diverse film slate with a lean toward genre. In a development and script-editing capacity, she works with writing and directing talent from Ireland, the UK and internationally. Having gained her PhD from Trinity College Dublin specialising in horror, she is the author of the Choice Outstanding Academic title The Myth of Harm: Horror, Children and Censorship. As a horror consultant and academic, alongside her role at Wild Atlantic Pictures, she continues to write and lecture on the genre.
Síle Culley is an independent Audience Designer working with producers and production companies across the globe. She helps film teams identify who their film is for and build a strategy around its outward journey. Working at the project development stage, she brings an audience-centric lens to story, market and positioning. Síle also advises screen agencies and public funders — including Film i Väst, Nederlands Film Fonds, VAF and the Estonian Film Institute — on their audience strategies and policies.
The finalists will present at the Galmont Hotel on Sunday 12 July at 12pm, with the winner announced at the Film Fleadh Awards Ceremony at 5pm that evening. The event is free, but registration is required at www.galwayfilmfleadh.ie.