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IRELAND wild & welcoming
ireland is enjoying a post-lockdown production boom, as international projects turn to the country for its variety of locations, experienced crews and attractive Section 481 tax credit, while successes such as normal people have cast a spotlight on its homegrown talent.
Image: Valhalla © Bernard Walsh & Netflix.
reland has created myriad projects with almost every European territory as well as several US studios and companies across Canada, Australia and South Africa. It is part of the European Convention on Cinematographic Co-Production, which includes members of the EU and some EEA states, and also has bilateral co-production treaties with Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Luxembourg.
Like many countries, Ireland enjoyed a postlockdown production boom. To date, the country’s highest annual production contribution on record is EUR358 million, achieved in 2019. Early figures indicate that 2021 is set to surpass this figure; an estimated EUR289 million of production was recorded in the first six months of “The global the year alone. “Production populariTy of hulu activity in 2021 will see record and The bbc’s levels for Irish film, television and NORMAL PEOPLE has animation despite the enormous ongoing challenges faced by the showcased The industry throughout the Covid-19 naTion’s audiovisual pandemic,” says Steven Davenport, media indusTry To Screen Ireland’s head of US The world.” production and partnerships. AMC’s sci-fi utopian series Moonhaven selected Ireland as the location for its moon-based sanctuary. When the NBC and Universal Pictures project Cocaine Bears began filming in August, director Elizabeth Banks, Modern Family cast member Jesse Tyler Ferguson and producer Christopher Miller were spotted in the Emerald Isle. Vallhalla – Netflix’s sequel series to the popular show Vikings – recently wrapped up filming in the country. Meanwhile, the second season of Apple TV+’s Foundation has been given the greenlight;
lOcaTiOn HiGHliGHT
Ballinesker and Curracloe Beaches Steven Spielberg chose to film his famous 20-minute opening sequence of Saving Private Ryan (above) on these beaches in County Wexford rather than Omaha Beach. In a chance conversation with Spielberg, Mel Gibson recommended Ireland as an ideal destination for shooting immense action sequences having used it extensivvely in Braveheart. A hybridisation of Irish Defence Forces, An Forsa Cosanta Áitúil (now FCA Army Reserve) and An Slúa Múirí (now Naval Service Reserve) were supplied as extras. Filming took place on the beaches over two months. Scenes from John Crowley’s Brooklyn were also shot on these soft, wind-blown sands. The co-production between Canada, Ireland and the United Kingdom features Saoirse Ronan, Emory Cohen, Domhall Gleeson and Jim Broadbent. Image: Saving Private Ryan © (2015) Paramount Pictures & Dreamworks LLC & Amblin Ent.
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