20/11/2006

The Irish Film Board(IFB) was just awarded a budget increase of almost 15% for 2007 by Minister for Culture John O’Donoghue, bringing the agency’s funding for film and television to €17 million and its total allocation (including administration) to just over €19.6 million.

“We welcome Minister O’Donoghue’s consistent and ongoing support for the Irish film industry,” commented IFB Chairman James Morris. “As a result of budget increases made to the Irish Film Board last year, projects produced with funding from the IFB in 2006 had combined budgets of over €120 million, which in turn has generated over €80 million in Irish spending, showing a significant return on government investment in the sector.”

For the Irish Cultural Minister, the increased current allocation should facilitate the Board in marketing Ireland as a film location and assist the newly opened office in Los Angeles in raising the profile of the Irish audiovisual industry abroad. “This provision underlies the sustained government support for the Board, which has seen its allocation increase by 60% since 2002," stressed O’Donoghue. In 2006, the IFB introduced a number of new funds, such as the Multiple Development Fund, supporting producers who have an attractive slate of projects that they are seeking to develop. Films shot on location in Ireland this year include Becoming Jane [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Julian Jarrold (the UK director of Kinky Boots) and PS I Love You by US filmmaker Richard LaGravenese, starring Hilary Swank.

Irish feature films supported by the IFB in 2006 include John Boorman’s critically acclaimed The Tiger’s Tail, Paddy Breathnach’s Shrooms, Lenny Abrahamson’s Garage, Marian Quinn’s 32A, John Carney’s Once, Niall Heery’s Small Engine Repair [+see also:
trailer
film profile] and Anthony Byrne’s How About You.

Overall spending on the film and television sector in Ireland increased by 81% between 2005 and 2006, from €96.6m to an estimated €175.7m.