Music
03 Feb 10

Oscars Shine A Light On Ballyfermot College

Ballyfermot College was catapulted to the forefront of Irish arts education, with the announcement yesterday of a raft of Oscar Nominations for its graduates.

In all, four Ballyfermot College (Irish School of Animation) graduates have received Oscar Nominations for the 2010 Academy Awards. They are as follows:

* Nicky Phelan and Darragh O'Connell of Brown Bag Films have been nominated in the Short Animation category for Granny O'Grimm's Sleeping Beauty.

* Tomm Moore of Cartoon Saloon has been nominated in the Animated Feature Film category for The Secret of Kells.

* Richie Baneham of Rhythm & Hues has been nominated in the Visual Effects category for his work on James Cameron's Avatar.

* Dee Armstrong of Kila is another Ballyfermot graduate, from the Traditional Music Performance Course – Ceoltoir". She features on the soundtrack to The Book of Kells, nominated for best Animated Feature Film.

There were five nominees in all, also including:

· Best Live Action Short: The Door (Juanita Wilson and James Flynn)
· Best Sound Mixing: Peter J Devlin for Star Trek

"It's a good day for Irish Animation and a good day for the Irish School of Animation at BCFE," Ballyfermot College of Further Education's Deputy Principal, Diarmuid O Brien, told Hot Press.

That view was echoed by the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism Martin Cullen, who welcomed the Irish nominations.

"To achieve this level of critical acclaim in such a competitive field is a vindication of the work of the Irish Film
Board and the Government in continuing to support Irish film-makers," he said. "We are truly boxing and winning way above our weight here and to make the final lists is a testimony to the filmcraft of our industry. Three of the Irish nominations are at the ever-advancing frontier of film making – animation. It is in that particular genre that there is a convergence of traditional craft, storytelling and leading edge technology.

"Our film makers continue to do us proud and I wish all of the nominees every success on March 7th.
As cultural ambassadors for our industry and our country they have already done us proud," he said.

The Secret of Kells, Granny O Grimm’s Sleeping Beauty and The Door were funded by the Irish Film Board/Bord Scannán na hÉireann.