The magic of Irish film - Cinemagic International Film and Television Festival

The award-winning Belfast-based Cinemagic International Film and Television Festival for Young People will return to New York this week to deliver another action packed program of film screenings, workshops and special events. CAHIR O’DOHERTY talks to Joan Burney Keatings, the woman behind the growing Irish invasion, who tells us what to expect.

Are you ready to hear one of the best arts stories out of Ireland (north and south) in years? Well, look no further than Cinemagic, the award-winning Belfast based international film festival and charity for young people, which returns to New York this February 10-12.

The powerhouse behind the organization is Cinemagic chief executive Joan Burney Keatings. She has helmed the ever-expanding Irish film festival for the last 10 years and helped it grow from a Belfast concern to an international event.

Through her commitment to the young Irish people the festival was first created for, Burney Keatings has now managed to lasso the support of major international film stars like Liam Neeson and young participants from around the world.

Cinemagic itself started right in the middle of The Troubles in the North 20 years ago when a group of Belfast-based journalists got together and decided a new film festival would be an amazing platform to bring young people together, cross community, to watch and review films.

That was how it originally started in 1991. But when Burney Keatings came on board in 2001 she focused on giving the festival a much broader international dimension to the already successful Belfast Film Festival.

“What attracted me to the Cinemagic was that that it had strong aims and values that would educate young people here,” Burney Keatings tells the Irish Voice.

“So I got involved 10 years ago and I introduced a big international element to the festival. In my second year I was fortunate to secure Jim Henson’s Sesame Street organization to come over to Belfast from New York. They sent 17 Muppets from New York to Belfast. Can you imagine? It was huge for us. It was great to get that international recognition early on.”

That early exposure opened other doors which help the Irish festival flourish. This year Cinemagic USA will take place from February 10-26, touring New York, Boston, San Francisco and Los Angeles.
It will be presented in association with Titanic Belfast, the new $150 million visitor attraction opening in April 2012 on the site where the Titanic was built in Belfast.

On this side of the pond Cinemagic (and its young participants flying over from Ireland) will be working in partnership with a number of top notch film and television organizations in New York, including the producers behind Sesame Street, the Tribeca Film Institute, the Ghetto Film School and Sony, to offer them the opportunity to attend educational screenings, master classes and workshops with seasoned industry professionals.

Think about it. If you’ve just come off a housing estate in north Dublin or north Belfast, just the opportunity to rub shoulders with Hollywood elite is a bit of a miracle. But it’s not like Cinemagic doesn’t have banner name supporters.

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Nster.com