Film director John Carney appointed Adjunct Professor at NUI Galway
John Carney, one of the most acclaimed and successful contemporary Irish film directors, has been appointed an Adjunct Professor with the Huston School of Film and Digital Media at NUI Galway. Mr Carney will give talks and workshops in the Huston School over the next three-years, including the forthcoming BA in Film and Digital Media, and will also contribute to the increasing integration of the school’s programmes with the film and audio-visual industry in Ireland and internationally.
John Carney will visit the Huston School of Film and Digital Media on Thursday, 9 November at 5.30pm to give an inaugural lecture as Adjunct Professor. John’s talk will be preceded by a directing workshop in the Huston School at 4pm for leaving certificate students interested in the School’s forthcoming BA in Film and Digital Media, enrolling from September 2018.
Dr Seán Crosson, Acting Director of the Huston School of Film and Digital Media at NUI Galway, said: “We are delighted that such a distinguished director as John Carney has agreed to join us in Huston as an Adjunct Professor. John has been a key figure in Irish film over the past twenty years. His award-winning work, particularly in the musical genre, has helped to reimagine the parameters of Irish cinema and brought Irish stories and characters to wide international audiences. John will make an important contribution to the Huston School programmes in the coming years, and allow us to further develop our connections with the film and audio-visual industry in Ireland and internationally.”
John Carney, said: “I’m thrilled with the appointment. Galway holds a special place in my heart as a film maker, and I look forward to many months of work with the NUI Galway students, discussing, developing and making films.”
John Carney was born in Dublin and was educated at De La Salle College Churchtown and at Synge Street CBS. He was bassist for Irish rock band The Frames between 1991 and 1993 and also directed some of their music videos. Carney also co-wrote and co-directed the hugely successful RTÉ TV series Bachelors Walk. In recent years Carney wrote and directed the 2006 global hit movie Once, which went on to win numerous awards including an Academy Award for Best Original Song. It has since been adapted as one of the most successful theatrical musicals of recent years, including award winning runs on Broadway and the West End.
Subsequent films directed by Carney have enjoyed considerable critical and commercial success. Begin Again (2013) grossed over $63 million worldwide and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song for Lost Stars. His most recent film, the Irish set coming of age musical Sing Street (2016), was nominated for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy at the 74th Golden Globes in January 2017.
With a core focus on the development of creative and critical skills, the BA in Film and Digital Media equips graduates for a career in today’s rapidly changing media environment. Employing over 6,000 people nationwide, and generating an estimated €550 million annually, the creative industries are central to Ireland’s economic and cultural achievements on the global stage. At the heart of the industry’s success lie the creative talents of the individuals working within it. The exciting new BA in Film and Digital Media undergraduate degree offers students a unique combination of theory and practice across the areas of film and digital media, providing them with practical skills in filmmaking, screenwriting, and digital development and design, and positioning them to become the next generation of content creators.
The event is free and open to the public on Thursday, 9 November and students interested in attending John Carney’s inaugural lecture can email hustonfilmschool@nuigalway.ie.
For further information on the Huston School and its programmes, visit: www.filmschool.ie/.
John Carney
John Carney was born in Dublin and was educated at De La Salle College Churchtown and at Synge Street CBS. He was bassist for Irish rock band The Frames between 1991 and 1993 and also directed some of their music videos. In addition to shooting music videos, Carney also wrote and directed two award-winning short films, Shining Star and Hotel before making his first feature. With fellow film-maker Tom Hall, Carney wrote and directed November Afternoon, his first feature film, in 1996. Despite a limited release, it was acclaimed as the ‘Film of the Year’ by The Irish Times. John wrote, directed and scored his next project, the hour-long TV film Just In Time, starring Frances Barber and Gerard McSorley. The Irish Times voted it Best TV Film of 1998.
Carney's next film was the edgy drama Park, which premiered at the Dublin Film Festival. Two years later, in 2001, he co-wrote and directed On the Edge. The film starred Cillian Murphy and Stephen Rea and was released through Universal Studios. He was awarded the Silver Hitchcock Award for On the Edge at the 2001 Dinard Festival of British Cinema.
Carney returned to TV writing and directing during the same year. He co-wrote and co-directed (with his brother Kieran Carney and Tom Hall) the hugely successful RTÉ TV series Bachelors Walk. The independently produced TV series proved the most successful in Irish television history. The series ran for three seasons.
In 2006, Carney directed the feature movie Once. First screened at the Galway Film Fleadh, Once had its official world release at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2007 and won the World Cinema Audience Award in the category Dramatic. A low-budget affair shot for only $160,000, Once was hugely successful, grossing $7 million worldwide in its first three months of release. Legendary film-maker Steven Spielberg is quoted as saying, “Once gave me enough inspiration to last the rest of the year.” As writer and director of Once, Carney won the Most Promising Newcomer award in the Evening Standard British Film Awards 2007 and the film went on to win an Academy Award for Best Original Song. It has since been adapted as one of the most successful theatrical musicals of recent years, including award winning runs on Broadway and the West End.
Subsequent films directed by Carney have enjoyed considerable critical and commercial success. Begin Again (2013) grossed over $63 million worldwide (it is the most-watched independent film of all time in South Korea) and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song for Lost Stars. His most recent film, the Irish set coming of age musical Sing Street (2016), was nominated for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy at the 74th Golden Globes in January 2017.
About the Huston School of Film and Digital Media
The Huston School of Film and Digital Media is the leading centre for research and teaching in film and digital media in the West of Ireland. The school offers teaching and research programmes at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels (up to PhD), including pioneering MA degrees in Film Studies: Theory and Practice, Film Production and Direction, Digital Media, Public Advocacy and Activism, and Film and Theatre. Research and taught programmes at the Huston School of Film and Digital Media are built upon the strong links between the school and the wider creative community, offering students the opportunity to collaborate with top industry professionals in a University environment. Many Huston graduates are pursuing successful careers in the fields of Film and Media both in Ireland and abroad, including graduate Will Collins, who was the screenwriter of the animated film Song of the Sea, nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature in 2015. Huston is also a key contributor both to Galway’s UNESCO City of Film initiative and the forthcoming European City of Culture 2020 programme.