Niamh Heery’s feature film script ‘Down by Your Side’ has been announced as one of six feature projects to go into development for Screen Ireland’s POV Scheme. This is Niamh’s fourth Screen Ireland commission. Most recently her short drama ‘Lady Black Eyes’ was selected and made for the Focus Shorts scheme.
Down By Your Side is a drama about Irish dancers Cian and Nicola, a pair of caustic, frenzied twins who are trying to find their own identity while dealing with a dark past in the boglands of Ireland. Written and directed by Niamh Heery and produced by Caroline Kealy, the project next undergoes a six month development and mentorship phase before the three final projects go into production with a budget of up to €400K each.
On the announcement, Niamh Heery said
I’m so thrilled to be given the opportunity to work with Screen Ireland to bring Down by Your Side to the next stage of development. It’s a story that has not been seen on screen before and I look forward to sharing it. I’m particularly proud to be included alongside such fantastic other filmmakers chosen for the scheme, and to be part of POV, a scheme which shines light on female film making talent in Ireland.
Commenting on the high level of applications received, the selection panel said
“The standard of applications we received on this scheme was very impressive. It was a hugely competitive process with 65 applications competing for six funding awards. It was no easy feat whittling them down, but we believe that the six chosen projects are wonderful examples of the wealth of female talent working in the Irish screen industries today.”
Speaking about the scheme James Hickey, Chief Executive, Screen Ireland said:
We launched POV with the sole purpose of increasing female representation both in front of and behind the camera as part of Screen Ireland’s wider commitment to achieving 50/50 gender parity within the Irish screen industries. Our aim with the scheme is to enable female-driven storytelling on screen and we are looking forward to seeing three of these stories coming to fruition and being seen by Irish and international audiences.