Connemara corners and Norway’s fjords to host ‘pop-up’ film project

The Cinémobile, Ireland’s ‘pop-up’ picture house on wheels, is twinning with four other countries to bring independent film to some of northern Europe’s farthest corners.

Connemara community halls, Norwegian fjords and Scottish islands are among the 27 venues chosen for some 28 films which will be "swopped" between Ireland, Iceland, Finland, Scotland and Norway and shown free to audiences.

John Michael McDonagh's Calvary, Dieter Auner's Dreams of a Clown and Risteard Ó Dómhnaill's The Pipe are among the Irish features,documentaries and shorts selected for the North by North West - Films on the Fringe initiative.

Details of the project were outlined by Irish Film Board chief executive James Hickey in Galway this evening .

The project was spearheaded by the Cinémobile team, which secured a grant of almost €60,000 from Creative Europe 2014-2020, the €1.46 billion EU support fund for the audiovisual and cultural sectors.

"We want to encourage people who would never dream of going to see a subtitled film to come out and try these films,"Cinémobile manager Noreen Collins said.

“Each of the participating cinemas comes from countries with similar territory-types, geographically placed on the edge of Europe; each has a strong pride in the regions we are trying to reach and an understanding and knowledge of their demography,”she said.

“ All participants have an existing ‘outreach’ strand to their programme that will see screenings take place from Vopnafjörður, located on a peninsula in the middle of a fjord in Iceland, to Liniclate in Scotland’s Outer Hebrides, to Indreabhán in Connemara,” Ms Collins said.

“The travelling nature of the venues gives the project an individuality and quirkiness that few other cinema projects in Europe have,”she said, explaining that projects like this are “vital to counter centralisation”.

The Cinémobile's itinerary for North by North-West includes: Clones Film Festival in Co Monaghan, Guth Gaffa documentary festival in Kells, Co Meath, Subtitle film festival in Kilkenny, Fastnet short film festival in Schull, Co Cork, the Dingle film festival in Co Kerry Athenry film society ,Club Scannán Sailearna in Co Galway, and the Newcastle community cinema in Co Down .