IFTA Presents... Terry George

At the Belfast Media Festival 2012, October 19 2012, 4pm
Interview with William Crawley, BBC Northern Ireland
BBC Blackstaff Studios, Great Victoria Street, Belfast

The Irish Film and Television Academy has partnered with the Belfast Media Festival to present an in-depth interview with one of Ireland's most celebrated filmmakers Terry George. The interview will take place at 4pm on Friday October 19th and will be one of the highlights of the exciting two-day programme of events which marks the 3rd Year of the Belfast Media Festival. The festival's unique & extensive content, spanning across all media including Film, TV, Print, Radio, Games & Music has marked it out as a vital & essential event in the industry calendar.

ABOUT TERRY GEORGE

Terry George, born 20 December 1952 in Belfast, Northern Ireland is an Academy Award and two-time IFTA winning writer & director. Born and raised in Belfast, Terry's observations on the Troubles there have gone on to inform some of his most powerful & moving work.

After moving with his family to New York, Terry started his career as a playwright in 1985 with The Tunnel, a drama based on his imprisonment in Belfast. The stage play also marked his first collaboration with Irish director Jim Sheridan. During this time, he also worked on the book The Pizza Connection with the late American journalist Shana Alexander.

George's cinematic breakthrough came in 1993 as the co-screenwriter and assistant director on In the Name of the Father, another collaboration with Sheridan. The film, starring Daniel Day-Lewis and the late Pete Postlethwaite was a compelling account of the false conviction of the Guildford Four in England. It was highly lauded on release, won the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival & received 7 Oscar Nominations, including one for George alongside co-writer and director Sheridan. He made his directorial debut in 1996 with Some Mother's Son, which he also wrote. The film, starring Helen Mirren and Fionnula Flanagan, saw him named as European Young Director of the Year. He also continued his longstanding collaboration with Sheridan, helping to co-write The Boxer in 1997. George subsequently adapted and directed the acclaimed HBO movie, A Bright and Shining Lie in 1998, which received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Television Movie. He served as Executive Producer on the CBS television drama The District which he also co-created and in 2002 wrote the screenplay for Hart's War, which eventually starred Colin Farrell.

George earned his second Academy Award nomination in 2004 for Hotel Rwanda. The film, which starred Don Cheadle was an affecting drama recounting the horror of genocide in the African state and garnered unanimous critical acclaim. It picked up nominations at every major Awards show that year including the IFTA's, BAFTA's, Golden Globes, Screen Actors Guild, Writers Guild, Producers Guild, National Board of Review and has since been added to the American Film Institute's 100 Years..100 Movies list. George has split his time evenly between Film & TV in recent years, directing Jennifer Connolly and Joaquin Phoenix in Reservation Road and Brendan Fraser in Whole Lotta Sole for the screen. He has also contributed his directing skills to some of TV's most acclaimed drama's including HBO's In Treatment and Luck. This year George received an Academy Award for his Short Film The Shore. Produced with his daughter Oorlagh, it tells the story of childhood friends divided by twenty-five years of misunderstanding through the Troubles in the North of Ireland and features Ciaran Hinds and Conleth Hill.

IFTA MEMBERSHIP

This event is free and exclusive to Members of the Irish Film & Television Academy.
click here for information about Membership eligibility.

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