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‘Forty Foot’ Wins International Documentary Challenge at Hot Docs 2009
Leticia Agudo, Paul McGrath and Aoibheann O’Sullivan, the filmmakers behind the short documentary Forty Foot have just returned from the Hot Docs film festival in Toronto with 2 prizes. The film, made in 5 days as part of the International Documentary Challenge, won ‘Best Film’, the top award, and was also awarded ‘Best Use of Historical Genre’.
Film Title: Forty Foot
Tag Line: 4ºC at the Forty Foot
About the challenge:
In March 2009, 142 filmmakers from 15 different countries entered a competition to make a short non-fiction film in 5 days only. They were assigned a theme and a choice of two genres on the morning of the 1st day. In the end, only 116 completed the challenge and 13 were chosen as finalists. Their films premiered at the prestigious Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival, the largest documentary festival and market in North America.
The Irish team were given support from Culture Ireland to attend the event. The group of 3 from Dublin were surprised and delighted to be awarded the Best Film title, and will also receive a cash prize.
The judges of the competition were:
John Sinno - Typecast Releasing
Michael Lumpkin - International Documentary Association
Oliver Sertic - Zagreb Film Festival
Angie Driscoll - Hot Docs International Programmer
This is what they said about Forty Foot:
We picked one film that we all connected with … that film captured a place and the people with so much genuine spirit, ease and humour…
About the Film:
Early on a chilly March morning 3 filmmakers set out to make a short documentary film in 5 days. They received their genre and theme from an internet café, and got some production assistance from a friend. The team had two cameras, a wet suit and a lot of coffee.
Forty Foot is about the older groups of mostly Irish locals who swim in Sandycove every day. The film tells the history of the place through the personal stories and characteristics of the featured swimmers. More than a film about them braving the elements everyday, this is a film about having a great and surprising spirit in the face of aging, death and economic hardship. It shows a classless section of older Irish nationals in a refreshing, encouraging and a completely unknown light to foreign eyes.
Blog:
Check out the blog at www.whackala.com to see posts made during the process of the project.
Other Links:
www.docchallenge.org
www.hotdocs.ca
