THE CURTAIN rose on the 6th Annual Clones Film Festival on Wednesday last in the Lennard Arms Hotel. This year the Festival was bigger and bolder than ever.
The launch was attended by some of Clones’ and indeed Monaghan’s best loved sons and daughters.
The launch kicked off with an introduction from Geraldine Zechner, a member of the Festival committee. Gary Quinn of the Irish Times, who is originally from Clones, was compere for the evening.
He was the driving force behind the feature in the Times on Wednesday last, catapulting Clones once again into the National spotlight, for all the right reasons.
The feature also showcased recent events such as the Flat Lake Festival and the victorious return of the Ulster Final to Clones. It also celebrated the merits of what is going on elsewhere in greater Co. Monaghan.
Frank McNally of the Irish Times, who originally hails from Carrickmacross, delivered an hilarious speech about the time he was involved in making a documentary piece on Clones losing the Ulster Final.
On the day of an Ulster Final was played in Croke Park, he came down to Clones with a film crew. Their aim was to portray Clones as being from the school of hard knocks.
The 3.5 minute “epic”, as Frank described it, was broadcast on Park Live - a sports programme on RTE. However, someone in Clones did not see that their intentions were purely good and lodged a complaint with the Broadcasting Complaints Commission, stating that “Clones had been portrayed in an unnecessarily harsh light”!
The broadcasting team redeemed themselves and did a follow-up when it was announced the Ulster Final was coming back to Clones. This time they took no chances though, and filmed the piece in Carrick! The homecoming of the Ulster Final was an item on Des Cahill’s Road to Croker, earlier this year.
McNally said that Clones deserved a lot of credit as most other film festivals are held in cities. He commented that it was a great shame to see cinemas in small town shut down, such as the Luxor in Clones and the Stella in Carrickmacross.
The Poetry Chicks then delivered their interpretation of The Butcher Boy Reflections, preforming energetic recitals of For Francie Brady, Laura’s Keys and The Beautiful Things.
The Poetry Chicks are Abby Oliveira, Pamela Brown and Jenni Doherty. It is their mission “to stimulate, inform, educate, challenge and entertain through the medium of performance poetry and workshops.”
Colin McCabe was next to take the podium, the Professor of English and film is also a producer and critic. He was delighted when Grainne Humphries, of the Irish Film Institute approached him to write a book on The Butcher Boy.
Colin McCabe hailed Pat McCabe’s writing as: ”The most important to come out of Ireland since Joyce. His is the kind of writing that enlarges your world and turns your life upside down.”
Joyce wrote of an old Ireland, but the new literary Ireland was created by Pat McCabe by fusing genres and histories. While Joyce sought his adventures further afield, Pat McCabe experienced them at home, the author Colin McCabe reflected.
The film stays true to the spirit of the book, but the violence described in the book would be too much for screen, the telegenic violence is striking but abbreviated. Neil Jordan’s vision and Pat McCabe’s writing complemented each other beautifully, Colin McCabe concluded.
Pat McCabe’s very witty speech centred around the stresses of securing funding for The Butcher Boy and the difficulty in selling the concept - let alone the Monaghan accent punctuated by swear words - to American film studios.
Music on opening night was provided by the highly sophisticated Jazz Preservation Society.
The festival committee expressed their thanks to all their generous sponsors and the seven venues where films were shown. One of these venues was Scoil Crí Ro Naofa, where infant classes got to re-live the magic of Dumbo in the comfort of their own classroom. This was part of the festival’s new community outreach programme.
The evening concluded with a screening of the short film “Now Showing,” which documents the story of a couple, Pat and Anne Greene. United by a common love of cinema, the couple started out with a couple of projectors, travelling around their locality.
They then purchased the Ormonde Cinema in Middleton, Cork, which they ran for 26 years. The Ormonde closed because a multi-plex came to town. This film demonstrated the importance of community based cinema and the necessity for film festivals such as Clones.

Moonman sweeps boards at short film challenge

By Veronica Johnston

MOONMAN, a short film by The Gulpins, chronicles the madcap adventures of a group of exuberant youths and a washing machine! This 15 minute piece of cinematic genius scooped the first prize in the Scanbitz Shortfilm Challenge, along with the resounding endorsement of the Audience Award.
This silent film was literally a laugh a minute, from the opening credits to the final curtain. Highlights included the view of the earth from the washing machine/spaceship and Moonman erecting the Monaghan flag proudly on the moon! Wherever this bunch of highly creative filmmakers/space cadets are boldly going with their poitin fuelled washing machine, one thing is for sure, it won’t be with a PG?certificate!
Their endeavours earned them €500 and a Waterford Crystal plate as first prize and a box of Hunky Dory crisps from the audience vote!
Second prize went to the highly artistic two minute film by Little Warrior Films named Senex, wherein a poem of the same name was recited.
The short was filmed on the Diamond in Clones, and despite the rain it looks as iconic as it did in The Butcher Boy ten years ago.
The film centres on an old man sitting on one of the benches at the fountain and features a team of twelve teenagers as extras. In fact, the young people made such an impression on them, that the filmmakers told parents in Clones to keep up the good work.
This visually stunning and technically brilliant place earned second prize in the Scanbitz Short Film Challenge, which was €250 and a Waterford Crystal plate.
The standard was exceptionally high and will give filmmakers something to aspire to next year. Eamonn McKenna from Scanbitz also pledged increased sponsorship for next year, since he had such a ball at the festival!
Each team had a day to shoot, a day to edit and had to have their film ready for screening on Sunday evening, all on a budget of €500.
The films were all so individual that it would have been next to impossible to be a judge in the contest. The unpleasant task of having to choose winners fell to to the following panel: Harry Cleary, Director of the Clones Film Festival, Thomas Chesney, Colm McKeown, Vinny Cunningham and compere for the evening Fergal McGrath.
The other three films which did not receive an award on the day were: Heaven, a dramatisation through the medium of dance by director Mary Keane. The film was based on Eugene McCabe’s About Us Lies Heaven.
Jackie Jarvis of Mimim brought us a touching tribute to her grandparents entitled Pat McCaul. This was a revealing insight into the memories that make life such a rich tapestry. An emotional audience laughed and cried with the subject as he reminisced with his granddaughter about times gone by.
June by El Zorrero Films was a debut for actress Tanya Morgan, who works in the Lennard Arms. Tanya gave a great performance as the timid “be seen and not heard,” chambermaid June. This was an improvised piece and director Kieran Deeny was delighted with her performance.
The festival ended on a high note with music from Fiona and the 3T’s. Before declaring the festival closed, Geraldine Zechner, thanked all the sponsors, loyal supporters and newcomers to the festival. The crews and everyone who helped out over the weekend were also praised.
Plans are being made for next year’s festival already as the Francie Awards will debut. The awards are so named after Francie Brady, the Butcher Boy. These awards will be sponsored by the Flat Lake Festival and Monaghan Arts Office. There will also be a €2000 screen writers bursary sponsored by the Flat Lake Festival.
It was great to see Clones come to life and people from the locality coming out in support of the festival which brought us a weekend of the very best in world art-house film.
Clones Film Festival committee are: Stephen McKenna, Cynthia Stewart, Siobhan Sheerin, Thomas Zechner, Paula McQuillan, Geraldine Zechner, Harry Cleary, Catherine Sheerin, James Sheerin and Seamie McMahon.