Fionnghuala Ní Neill, the director of the Dublin Animation Film Festival, describes her festival as being about “great animation and great storytelling”. This annual event, returning for its ninth year, will be held in The DLR Lexicon and Pavilion Theatre, Dún Laoghaire, this weekend. As is typical of the festival, this year’s line-up promises a range of national and international films crafted by students and professionals alike.
Speaking to The University Times, Ní Neill explains: “The story of the festival began when I was signing on the dole back in 2009. I had been trying to get back to work and had recently finished a course in digital marketing. I spotted a notice in the Dún Laoghaire social welfare office offering a course in digital skills and one of the modules was stop-motion animation. The course was taking place on the IADT campus and I remember rushing up there with a letter of application and my CV. Fortunately, the Admissions Officer took pity on me and gave me a place!”
The course helped Ní Neill to become passionate about animation, but it was only when she noticed the lack of such festivals in her hometown of Blackrock that she spotted a vacancy that needed filling. “Blackrock didn’t have a cultural festival at the time”, Fionnghuala says, “and I thought that setting up an animation film festival might help. The first festival was held in a former Methodist Church on the main street and we received 47 entries!”.
The festival has expanded since then, but Ní Neill has not forgotten its small-town roots, promising that the festival continues to offer “something for both professionals and film enthusiasts as well as the local community”.
Blackrock didn’t have a cultural festival at the time, and I thought that setting up an animation film festival might help
The festival still retains its value to the local community by continuing to be a platform for student filmmakers. “This year alone”, an excited Ní Neill discloses, “we received 50 entries from colleges across Ireland as entries for our Best Irish Student Short Film”.
Even if your work isn’t a winner, the festival is still a great opportunity to showcase it to a panel of producers, directors and representatives from animation festivals and media in the UK. On top of that, many student films end up on the “animation news website Skwigly”, Ní Neill relays proudly, which gives these films even more exposure.
Ireland has become increasingly influential in the world of cinema, and this is reflected in the “rise in the number of small independent studios in Ireland”, Ní Neill says. She thinks that Irish animation is a key part of this trend “after a long time in the wilderness”. What makes Irish animation “stand out” in Ní Neill’s eyes is that it tends to “focus on good storytelling”. The industry, she says, “has a bright future”.
Ní Neill believes that determination and self-confidence are two of the key things needed to make it in the Irish film industry, and offers herself as an example. “I was told it was a terrible idea to set up a festival dedicated solely to animation.”
Such advice has not aged well as the festival approaches a decade of successful operation. Similarly, Ní Neill insists on the importance of networking and the importance of events such as the festival for doing so. “Keep your showreel up to date”, Ní Neill advises, and always have “some samples of your work on your phone, a few business cards in your wallet, and an up-to-date phone number and email – you never know who you might meet and ask you for it”.
