ARE SHORT FILMS KILLING IRISH FEATURES?

Someone said recently that our short films are world class. Maybe they are? Shoot the Cabbage does not watch many shorts. However one thing that's apparent is that Irish features seem to be influenced by short films - in a bad way!

The problem is that when most Irish filmmakers make a short they competely miss the point. Instead of making something memorable, risky, or different they choose an audience-friendly story and throw lots of technical aspects into it. Nothing wrong with that - they can learn stuff and even win awards. The problem is that when they move onto a feature they use the same approach. This is why there are dozens of Irish features that are completely empty, voiceless, and stylish. So stylish that the story is ruined and the audience end up looking at the film instead of watching it. Technical films with too much emphasis on the cinematography and music score. Pull out all the stops and overcook the film. This is a big problem with Irish cinema. What's really sad is that a lot of these lousy features are made by award-winning shorts directors. People who think they can do no wrong. It's just sad and shows how flawed the 'official' filmmkaing system in Ireland is. One other point: Dark Star, Napoleon Dynamite, THX 1138, Bottle Rocket are all outstanding American features that were originally short films. The only Irish short film that got expanded into a feature is Zonad. Enough said!