TEN FALLACIES ABOUT IRISH CINEMA!

Right, you're sitting at home watching the IFTAs and some nobody gushes positively about our film industry. Or it's Friday and you read another nice three-star review of the latest Irish feature release. Or, you're on a film course and the lecturer raves about the amazing film career you'll no doubt have if you pass his exams! Well what none of those fools will tell you are the fallacies (or misconceptions) about Irish cinema. Thankfully Shoot the Cabbage is here to put you in the know!


We have 'stories' to tell
Whoever came up with this mantra should be forced to emigrate! Indeed we once had stories to tell and they were passed on to the next generation, usually told around the fireplace. But these people headed to America a century ago so no more good stories. This idea that the Irish are a nation of great storytellers has resulted in some terrible movies. We might have stories to tell but they don't always make good scripts!

We can produce filmmakers as good as our famous writers!
Here's another fallacy that's been doing the rounds for a while now. Because we produced the likes of Joyce, Becket, Wilde, and Stoker it's only a matter of time before we produce the film director equivalent! Right, let's see? Most of those writers were Anglo-Irish Protestants who left Ireland as soon as they were old enough. So we now expect that a combination of the Leaving Certificate and a film- school education will produce a filmmaking talent as original as those guys? There will be a long wait!

Award-winning short filmmakers will go on to direct a great feature!
Don't know how this fallacy happened? Let's see? Someone makes a short film about a Japanese traveller who learns English but moves to a Gaeltacht in the west of Ireland and they can't understand him. It wins multiple awards and the filmmaker is destined to be just as successful with their debut feature? Except this doesn't happen. Is there anyone in Ireland who is only interested in making short films and has no interest in making a feature? They are the ones who deserve those short film awards.

We have a 'film industry'
When you're sitting in a cinema in Santry on a Monday night watching the latest IFB feature and there is no one else in the room there is a slight suspician that we don't actually have a film industry. Films should either make money or find an audience. Irish films don't. They lose money. The government pays funds to make films that lose money. That is not an industry it's a state-subsidised scheme!

Irish cinema means Republic of Ireland films!
I call this the Graeme McDowell syndrome! Let's ignore the success up North because they're not really Irish! Sure, maybe they consider their stuff to be British but when one talks about 'Irish cinema' it should by definition include films from both sides of the border. In fact most Nordie movies are more genre-driven, accomplished, darker, commercially friendlier, and more enjoyable to watch than the Southern titles. It's no concidence that the highest grossing Irish film from last year was Fifty Dead Men Walking.

Irish cinema is still young!
Not sure where this came from but some people think there were no Irish movies before the 1990s! Not only is this pure ignorance but is also disrespectful to the our filmmakers from earlier decades. They may not be easily available on DVD but films such as Quacker Fortune, No resting place, and Pigs are far better than the 'official' acclaimed Irish titles. Another problem with this 'we're young' excuse is that people accept rubbish features because we're still 'learning'!

The best Irish filmmakers all work in Ireland!
Another disrespectful fallacy is that all our best filmmakers are based here. Well John Moore's films have made more money that the entire IFB back catalogue! Steve Barron is another commercially successful talent. In fact most Irish genre directors seem to be working elsewhere?

Technical films are good films!
Fair enough, if someone decides to make a Brian Ború epic then by all means have a pounding orchestral score, amazing cinematography, and even different character colour schemes. Sadly Irish films are far smaller in scale. The problem is that this obsession with technical ability ruins countless films made here. When you're watching a drama about a marriage falling apart do you really need to 'tune out' to admire that fancy camera angle or clever colour codes for different characters?

It's made here so it's an Irish film!
Right, and Stars Wars is a British film? So for anyone deciding that Cracks or Waz is Irish just because they decided to film the thing on this island you're wrong. No matter how much the media hype up our industry. Great for jobs just don't call these titles Irish!

It's great that we're making so much stuff!
Ever hear of the phrase 'it's quality not quantity'? This year has seen an increase in Irish feature releases but how many of these are actually good? How many will be remembered a few years from now? How many debut Irish directors will go on to make world-class cinema? Or will they end up directing episodes of Podge and Rodge?