IT IS not every day a workplace gets to knock off early and head to the pub, but then not every workplace gets an Oscar nomination.
"It was like winning a World Cup final. We were all going crazy," said Nicky Phelan, director of Brown Bag Films, after its animated short Granny O'Grimm's Sleeping Beautywas announced as an Academy Award nominee.
It was a vintage day for Irish film, with five Oscar nominations.
Granny O’Grimm, with her twisted version of the timeless fairytale, was dreamed up by Carlow comedienne Kathleen O’Rourke. Brown Bag Films was previously nominated in 2001 for Give Up Yer Aul Sins which helped the company to build an impressive international portfolio. Yesterday afternoon, all 50 employees went to their local pub, The Glimmer Man in Stoneybatter, to celebrate.
The celebrations were no less joyous at the offices of animation company Cartoon Saloon in Kilkenny when news came through The Secret of Kellshad been nominated in the best animated film slot. Director Tomm Moore said they were genuinely surprised, having deprived two Hollywood blockbusters – Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs and Monsters v Aliens– of nomination.
Moore said the company had “no money for marketing”, but had secured a nomination through “friends in the US” who had quietly promoted the film.
The nomination of the Chernobyl disaster-themed film The Doorin the best live action short category left its co-producer Louise Curran "shocked and speechless". The film was made by Bray-based Octogon Films. It was filmed in Ukraine and is in Russian with English subtitles.
“I think it shows the incredible talent that we have here in Ireland as film-makers,” she said.
The Irish Film Board, which helped fund the three movies, hailed it as a “great day for the Irish film industry”. RTÉ Television’s director of programmes, Steve Carson, said it was a “huge source of pride and gratification” that it had also helped to fund the three films.
There were celebrations too in the Ballyfermot College of Further Education, which produced three Irish Oscar nominees. As well as Phelan and Moore, graduate Richard Baneham is nominated in the category of visual effects for Avatar.
The fifth Irish nominee, Northern Ireland-born Peter J Devlin, was nominated for best achievement in sound for his work on Star Trek.