bestActressWell I have to say I am totally delighted to have won the Best Actress category for “Covies” at the Underground Cinema Awards this year. It was a fantastic night and superbly put together down to the fine details by Dave and all the Underground team. This year marks the first Underground Awards and with Labour party leader Eamonn Gilmore speaking on the night, I felt he hit the nail on the head saying that this is the first of many years of success for Underground and what a privilege to have been part of the first one.

The Underground team have already begun the process to kick off next years monthly screenings, and the films which were presented throughout this past year will continue to tour the UK and Ireland meaning an even wider audience will gain access to view these amazing independent short films.

In the run up to the Awards night David Byrne from Underground and I did a radio interview with Richie Beirne for “Arena” RTE’s flagship Culture/entertainment/ Arts programme. You can listen to the radio interview here:

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I haven’t any of the official photos from the night yet so here is just a snapshot of me on the night!!
awardwin

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Hello all!!

nominatedOnce again I’m a little slow off the mark to write on this but I’m delighted to have received a “Best Actress” nomination for Covies from Underground Cinema, which I’ve previously written about, and would like to update here on the upcoming events.

As I’ve mentioned before Underground Cinema is a monthly screening of short films held in Dun Laoghaire. Over the past year Underground has screened 100 Short Irish Films, 16 Documentaries, 11 Music Videos and 5 Animated Films. Now that the screening year has come to a close Underground is facing into the exciting time of the Underground Film Festival and Awards Night.

Underground CinemaNominations Night took place at the beginning of August and nominations were announced for categories primarily for work on independent short Irish films. Included in the nominations night was the list of the 30 short films which have been selected for screening at the Underground Film Festival which will take place in the Screen Cinema, D’Olier Street on September 16th & 17th at 7.30pm nightly. Following the Film Festival, on the 18th September, the Awards night will be held in the Fitzpatrick Castle Hotel in Killiney.

page1I have to say I was thrilled to hear I’d received the nomination and I’m really looking forward to attending the awards night in September. Another great piece of news is that my first project “Waiting Room” on which I co-directed, wrote and acted in has been selected to play along with Covies at the Underground Film Festival on the Friday night… brilliant!!

Well, there you have it! Head along to The Screen cinema on 16th and 17th September for a unique cinema experience and support the independent film makers of Ireland.

Further information on nominations, tickets, events can be found on Underground Cinema website or Facebook Page!!
;-)

Here’s a preview of what’s to come on the festival nights in The Screen Cinema, D’Olier Street

Get your tickets now!!

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Effigy Road Teaser

Blogged by Sarah on July 14th, 2010 in Acting, Job Update, Short Film

Hey Everyone,
Recently I mentioned that I’ve been working on a sci-fi short film “Effigy Road”. Well, the director of the film, Rob Kelly, has put together a teaser trailer from the footage taken so far. This project is still in production with some ongoing filming taking place in Carlow town which should be wrapped over the next couple of weeks.

But for now thanks for reading and please enjoy this teaser:

Underground Cinema

Blogged by Sarah on April 14th, 2010 in Uncategorized

For a while now I’ve been meaning to write about a newish venture and great new asset to the Independent Filmmakers of Ireland, Underground Cinema, developed and co-ordinated by Dave Byrne. Dave has successfully run Bluemoon Theatre Company for many years and I came to know him when I had the pleasure of working on one of their productions in 2008.

Underground Cinema

Last year however, Dave changed course from the theatre company with the introduction of his new project, a monthly screening night in the Kingston Hotel Dun Laoghaire for Irish Short films, Underground Cinema. The idea behind Underground is to air the many wonderful independent Irish Shorts shot throughout the year that very often don’t get the screening time they deserve. Dave has opened the doors to anything which is sent to him, stating that any genre or convention is welcome. Over the months the screenings have also stretched to cover music videos and the occasional feature film. Another great aspect of Underground Cinema is that these monthly screenings will culminate into a nominations night in the Kingston Hotel, the Underground Film Festival in the IMC Dun Laoghaire and the Underground Cinema Awards (Black Tie Event) in Fitzpatricks Castle Hotel Killiney in September.

The whole project is ambitious to say the least and has so far had a well deserved great reaction, but this project has legs and is expanding all the time with Daves further introductions:
Underground TV (a live online showing of films with the director available for live chat afterwards)
Underground Cinema Roadshow (screenings held to a wider audience in venues throughout Ireland and the UK)
Underground Cinema Movie Marquee (a film tent appearing at various summer festivals)
Underground Cinema Movie Workshops (delivering valuable workshops in many aspects of film making)

I’m sure I’ll be writing more over the coming months about the exciting development of Underground Cinema but of course there’s much more to read about on the official Underground Cinema website and you can keep updated with the events by following on Facebook and Twitter.

Enjoy,

Sarah ;-)

Guerrilla

Blogged by Sarah on January 17th, 2010 in Acting, Job Update, Short Film

It would seem auditioning with no voice isn’t such a bad thing after all. I was in a bit of a panic this week with three auditions to get to and a voice that just wasn’t co-operating. But here we are with my second role secured for the week.  It’s a short film titled Guerrilla  to be shot by Dunsany Productions on location in Navan, Dublin and Dundalk. It’s a futuristic war movie and judging by the size of the gun I held in audition it’s going to be an eventful shooting experience.

I will play the female lead of Jacky. She is a soldier totally dedicated to the cause she fights. She has found herself on opposite sides to a former lover, Donelly, also the father of her young son. She’s hated him ever since he left her because she was pregnant, however when presented with the situation to let him live or die what will be the outcome? (Ohhhhh suspense!)

Should begin with costume and promo shots next week and shooting week after that. I’m sure I’ll have plenty of updates as we get closer and shooting begins so stay posted.

Sarah ;-)

Feature Film, “Girl Next Door”

Blogged by Sarah on January 15th, 2010 in Acting, Feature Film, Job Update

Hello all,

A little news on the job front! I auditioned a couple of days ago for a feature film, Girl Next Door. I am happy to accept the role of Tania in the feature due to begin shooting in Ireland towards the end of this month. The feature is written and directed by Lorna Fitzsimons.  Lorna has worked as a successful photographer and is now moving into the world of film.  Tania is a supporting role, she’s a bit of a bitch and should be a fun character to play so I’ll be looking forward to working on the project.

More info to follow as I get it.

Have a great weekend everyone.

Sarah ;-)

Hunting Grizzly

Blogged by Sarah on January 9th, 2010 in Acting, Short Film

Hey everyone,

I worked on a short film a few weeks ago called Hunting Grizzly, a comedy written and directed by Jeff Doyle, Co-Directed by Donnacha Coffey, and produced by Cathal Nally and Babershop Triplet Productions.  I guess it falls into a strand of blue comedy, but to be honest it’s just plain Jeff Doyle humour… kinda have to know him to understand!  It was great crack to work on and I’m sure it’ll be ready for screening in the near future and perhaps do the festival rounds, but for now here’s the trailer so you can get a taste of whats to come.

Here’s a few stills from the shoot, starring Jeff Doyle, Ciaran O Grady, Gerry Shanahan and myself.

Ciaran and Jeff

Ciaran&Jeff

Gerry

Gerry

Jeff and Sarah

Jeff&Sarah

Crew working hard

CIMG0318