Offaly filmmaker nominated for prestigious award

BIRR filmmaker Nicky Larkin has been nominated for a prestigious Irish Film & Television Academy (IFTA) award.
The 23rd IFTA awards ceremony is taking place on Friday, February 20, at the Dublin Royal Convention Centre.
Nicky's short film “Punt” is one of six nominees in the short film category at the IFTAs. Film lovers in Offaly reported that they had greatly enjoyed the film when it was screened during October's OFFline Film Festival in Birr.
The film is written and directed by Nicky and produced by Alanna Riddell Bond.
The plot is about a heartbroken woman returning to the island of her happiest memory to end her life in the shadow of the 1994 World Cup.
But when her electric metre runs out, a coin hunt sparks an unlikely bet: Ireland to qualify. (Below is a scene from "Punt"):

Nicky said he was really gratified to receive a lot of positive feedback from those who have already seen the film. He's also, naturally, dead chuffed with being an IFTA nominee. He pointed out that the film premiered during the Galway Film Fleadh in July, which means that at the moment “ it's still quite early in the festival circuit."
The film has been shown at a number of other Irish film festivals to date, including the Belfast Film Festival, Cork International Film Festival, Disappear Here Film Festival in Donegal, as well as Offaly's OFFline Film Festival, receiving warm and positive feedback from each venue.It will also be screening at the Dublin International Film Festival on Saturday, February 21.
Nicky said he's edited the film as well, which means he's watched it hundreds of times! He said he's enjoyed sitting in at each film screening across the country and getting each audience's reaction. He points out that after so much time editing the film in solitude it's been really nice getting out into society and sharing it with others. (Below: Filming in the former Melba's Nite Club).

"My favourite screening was at the Galway Film Fleadh, where the audience just laughed the whole way through it. It's a surprise when you've seen it a million times, you kind of become immune to the humour of it.”
He said the first couple of minutes of the film are “quite heavy,” because it's about a woman who goes to an island to end her life. The electricity goes out, and she has a picture of her late husband who passed quite recently. She doesn't want to commit suicide in the dark, therefore she goes on a journey to find a pound coin for the electric metre so she can end her life with the lights on. “It does get quite funny after the scene where the electricity goes out,” remarked Nicky.
The Birr filmmaker plans to take “Punt” on the international film circuit; “although it's a bit of a challenge because the two leads are Northern Irish, and their accents are quite thick, which meant it was hard for American viewers to understand. We've had to put English subtitles on the film. We have a couple of feature films in the works as well, so we're hoping this should be a nice boost for those too."
Punt also features music by Birr singer-songwriter Mark Lyndon, whose song “Nocturne” is featured in the opening scenes. The single is featured on Mark's upcoming debut album titled 'Silhouettes'. (Below: Nicky has also been working on a film about an Irish Sumo wrestler).

Nicky says he has had several phases as an artist, which have all helped him develop when it comes to creating moving images. He started as a painter, then gradually migrated towards moving images, first as a gallery-based video installation artist, and then eventually to more traditional forms of filmmaking.
While Nicky was always really into film, he says that it didn't seem accessible in the early 2000s, as you needed a film portfolio to apply to film school, and before the digital age the only people who could put that together were people who had industry connections through family. He feels that things are much more democratic these days, because “anybody with a smartphone can be a filmmaker.”
Along with fellow Birr filmmaker Gary Hoctor he is also making a documentary about Offaly's last ever night club, Melba's in Birr. The documentary is called “The Last Dance” and they filmed it last August when they chatted to a number of people about their memories of nights spent in the night club, including pairs – friends, siblings, or partners – who told them their best memories together.
Nicky is currently living and working in Belfast.

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