Sound & Vision Turns 20: Birdsong Producer Ross Whitaker in Newcastle West | Film Ireland Podcast

There was a lot to celebrate this Culture Night, as Newcastle West Film Club in Limerick marked 16 years of screening an impressive programme of films. Meanwhile, Coimisiún na Meán’s Sound and Vision Scheme has just turned 20 - and what better way to honour both occasions than with a screening of the scheme’s recent success, documentary Birdsong?

In Desmond Complex on 19th September, Coimisiún na Meán hosted a brilliant evening of music, conversation, and cinema, culminating in a live Q&A with the film’s producer, Ross Whitaker, hosted by Film Ireland Associate Editor Gemma Creagh.

Listen back to these highlights of the evening:

Chatting with Coimisiún na Meán’s Brian Furey — [00.35]

A history of the club with founding member Mary Carroll — [08.18]

Live Q&A with Ross Whitaker — [23.55]

A word from the members — [38.53]

Sound and Vision is 20!

Over €300 million awarded to almost 5,000 projects. Coimisiún na Meán is celebrating 20 years of the broadcasting funding scheme, Sound & Vision. The Scheme, which was first launched in 2005, has played a crucial role in shaping the Irish media landscape by supporting the creation of diverse, culturally relevant, and innovative content for Irish TV and radio audiences. Over the last two decades, nearly 5,000 projects have been offered funding of just over €300 million to make programming in Ireland, for Irish audiences. These include: 659 drama projects, 94 animation projects, just over 3,200 documentaries, 268 educational projects and 445 entertainment projects, as well as targeted funding rounds to support the commercial and community media sectors. Sound & Vision remains a vital source of funding for producing Irish language content with over 800 hundred of the projects funded classified as Irish/bilingual.

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