Irish Delegation Head to South by Southwest Film & Technology Festival in Texas
Bord Scannán na hÉireann/the Irish Film Board, Enterprise Ireland and a delegation of Irish film and technology companies are attending the South by Southwest (SXSW) conference in Austin, Texas this week with the aim of encouraging greater interaction between film and emerging technology and interactive media.
SXSW is widely recognised as the premier destination for the most ambitious digital media and film companies to showcase their work (Twitter launched here just a few years ago), and mix with key players in the interactive media, film and music industries to drive their business forward.
The Irish delegation will take part in the Austin International Tech Summit Meet Up which will feature 80 representatives from local Austin tech industries as well as 120 delegates from various countries around the globe including Singapore, Japan, Canada, Brazil, Israel, Australia and New Zealand, France, Germany, The Netherlands, UK, Spain and Finland.
The South By Southwest (SXSW) 2012 music, interactive and film festivals and conferences runs from March 9th-18th 2012. The film festival is one of the world's premiere film festivals with a special focus on new directing talent. Enterprise Ireland and Board Scannán na hÉireann/the Irish Film Board will be showcasing the best Irish film and technology in booth 1307.
Irish Film and Technology Companies Attending SXSW include:
Blinder Films http://www.blinderfilms.com/
Bl!nder Films seeks to make unique stories across film, television, and transmedia that will provoke, move and entertain. To date their projects have screened at numerous international festivals including Edinburgh, Seattle, Slamdance, Rotterdam, London, Toronto and Palm Springs. Their first feature ‘One Hundred Mornings' received a Special Jury Award at the 2010 Slamdance Film Festival, and won the inaugural Workbook Project Discovery and Distribution Award. Their production CITADEL will have its world premiere at the festival in the Midnighters section.
The Factory http://www.thefactory.ie/
The Factory is a creative space located in the heart of Dublin. The Factory is a space for film makers & directors to exchange ideas and support each other in the realisation of their vision. Behind each door is an actors studio, a camera department, an editing suite, a screening room, a music studio. From script development right through to casting, shooting, test screenings, cutting, scoring and grading, the Factory provides a home for Irish filmmakers to see their pictures through from start to finish, all under the one roof. The Factory aims to shorten development and extend the production/editing period. Their film DOLLHOUSE will screen in the Emerging Visions section of the festival.
Kavaleer Productions Limited http://kavaleer.com/
Over the past ten years Kavaleer have steadily crafted a niche that sees it recognized internationally as a creator of award -winning film and television projects on one hand, a trusted provider of animation, interactive and design services on the other. While TV and web content forms the mainstay of their activities, Kavaleer are also a seasoned provider of interactive content and apps for the e-learning and games sectors. In 2009, interactive services accounted for half of turnover and they have recently been developing their own apps.
Lovely Productions http://www.lovelyproductions.com/
Lovely Productions was set up in 2004 by designers and filmmakers Lorcan Finnegan and Brunella Cocchiglia. Lovely are now a collective of animators, directors, illustrators and writers and have produced many award winning live action and animated short films, music videos, TV commercials, motion graphics and title sequences for an international client base. Their short film FOXES is screening in the Narrative Shorts section of the festival.
Venom http://www.venom.ie/
Venom Films is a production company based in Dublin that offers a full range of production and post services in Ireland and Europe. Previous titles include the ‘His & Hers' which picked up the Best Cinematography award at the Sundance Film Festival and the award winning short films ‘The Herd' and ‘Undressing My Mother'. Venom are currently producing the feature films ‘Sanctuary' and ‘Kelly & Victor'. Their short film JOY will screen in the Narrative Short section of SXSW.
Volta http://www.volta.ie/
Volta is an Irish video on demand service for Irish and international independent film. Films can be rented or bought, streamed or downloaded. Many of the titles are exclusive to Volta. Films can be searched using unique search options: year, country, director, cast, genre, crew or keyword.
Windmill Lane Pictures http://www.windmilllane.com/
Windmill Lane Pictures is the premier post production facility house for Feature Film, TV Drama, Programming & Commercials in the heart of Dublin. Windmill Lane Digital, a new division of Windmill Lane Pictures harnesses our wealth of experience, and creativity to create interactive campaigns for web based platforms and designs/produces applications for iPhone & Android. Windmill LaneVFX - Ireland's first dedicated feature film visual effects studio operates a dedicated Maya Nuke pipeline and is currently engaged in producing CGI and visual effects for major international feature films.
Billfaster Ltd http://www.billfaster.com/default.asp
Billfaster have developed an accounting software that offers an all-in-one accounting system that's simple yet functional and cost effective. Nearly everything can be achieved in Billfaster in three simple steps from invoicing to recording expenses, or adding clients or items. It provides the fastest way to invoice customers, manage cash and track expenses. It has been designed to provide all the functionality needed to stay on top of business, while removing the complexity and difficultly often associated with doing the books by automating the accounting in the background.
CKSK http://cksk.com/
Established in 2006 and based in Dublin, CKSK is an award winning full service digital agency dedicated to developing truly innovative and creative platforms that create ongoing engagement with consumers through the possibilities of technology. Adopting a fully collaborative approach they work with their clients to ensure that they deliver digital content that encapsulates the ideas and aspirations of each individual brand, creating intimate and unique brand conversations that reward and last.
iGuide Mobile Applications Ltd http://www.iguideireland.com/index.php
The iGuide solution was initially developed in early 2009 to fulfill the need for a local tourist oriented mobile application. Critical to the success of the solution has been the Content Management system which drives the data feed to the Web and Mobile App, ensuring that the data is current and consistent across all data sources. iGuide Mobile Applications has now become one of the leading providers of web and mobile App solutions within the Business Improvement and Tourism sectors in the UK and Republic of Ireland. They offer a completely managed interactive digital service. Their work ranges from working with business organisations, groups of affiliated partners and multi-nationals from the concept and design stage through to the deployment and on-going support of innovative leading edge solutions.
Relevenz http://www.relevenz.com/
Relevenz is an electronic "kitchen calendar" where you can enter the details of plans and events that you have and share them with particular family and friends. Using a Facebook login makes it easy to share plans and events with an existing list of friends rather than making it necessary to forge new connections in a new social network. It also uses wall postings to let people know that their friends have shared plans and events with them. Plans and events are shown in a list format on the main dashboard in Relevenz. Any plans or events that have been shared are also shown there. The key thing is that only the people you have shared your plans with get to see them.
Rococo Software http://www.rococosoft.com/
Rococo is a leading provider of Proximity software headquartered in Dublin, Ireland. Their Bluetooth Software for Java is based on the JSR-82 standard and has been deployed on over 200 Million mobile handsets worldwide. Their proximity platform, LocalSocial, uses WiFi, Bluetooth, NFC and other short-range wireless technologies to detect physical proximity between people, businesses and devices. It is used to enable smarter interactions between businesses or people who are near to each other. LocalSocial is used primarily by retailers to enage with their customers when nearby. They can access and unlock offers when on premise, acquire loyalty points for just "walking in", and more.
SeedUps http://www.seedups.com/
Seedups is a new crowd funding matching engine for Startups who wish to raise up to €250,000 from qualified high net worth / sophisticated investors. Seedups was established to help early stage Startups with great business ideas solve the sub-€250k equity gap problem, which regularly exists when they attempt to raise smaller amounts of equity capital.
Storyful - http://www.storyful.com/
Storyful is the first news agency purpose-built for the age of social media. Storyful curates the smartest conversations and most valuable content flowing through social media channels. Storyful combines groundbreaking technology with the skills of professional journalism and the global reach of an online community. Storyful delivers premium news alerts to news professionals and is developing curation partnerships with global media brands including YouTube.
Studio Rua - http://www.studiorua.ie/
Studio Rua Designs, Develops and Delivers rich media applications that change how people do things on the internet. Whether this is an online advertising campaign that needs to make an impact on thousands of people, or a management system that needs to be easy to use and more efficient for hundreds. We would love to talk to you if you are looking for a technology partner to develop your new app, or are involved in the development of educational technology.
Trust5 / Voicelock Ltd http://www.trust5.com/index.html
Trust5 is an Irish based company delivering services on an international basis. The company has focused exclusively on the development of mobile content, mobile internet and mobile payments services since its foundation in 2000. More recently Trust5 has concentrated on the development and delivery of managed mobile games services.
With a successful track record of deploying managed services for mobile operators and game publishers that deliver increased revenues, Trust5 is committed to a program of ongoing innovation in the mobile games market. The current range of services is heavily focused on Android game services but significant development is being undertaken in relation to mobile HTML5 games services. Trust5's customer list includes EA Mobile, PopCap, O2, Vodafone, Orange, Tesco Mobile, and Wind.
VendorShop Limited http://www.vendorshopsocial.com/
VendorShop social was founded in September 2010 and is headquartered in Dublin, Ireland. It currently powers thousands of Facebook shops and has over 170,000 active Facebook users which makes it one of the top three providers of integrated Facebook stores worldwide (top five if you include software where the transaction is completed on the merchant's website).
The company's Facebook commerce software is free to install and offers merchants the opportunity to sell directly on Facebook without customers being redirected away from the social networking site. All stores also carry the McAfee Secure and VeriSign Trust marks of security and have powerful promotion tools to maximise social selling opportunities. The types of products sold via VendorShop stores cover a range of sectors including fashion, food, event ticketing, charity and arts and crafts in markets such as the United States, United Kingdom, Australia and Asia. In addition to the standard VendorShop shopping cart application, VendorShop social provides custom development of Facebook shops. This has included the development of one of the first mobile top-up stores on Facebook and solutions in the retail sector.
Zartis: Social Recruiting http://www.zartis.com/
Zartis is a web development company based in Ireland who love social media and the power of the Web to get things done that used to cost a lot of money. They built Zartis to make recruiting easier and less time consuming - their online app lets you post a job, share it with the world and then manage candidates that apply. Over the past two years they've worked with clients like PopCap Games, TE Connectivity, RyanAir, and Thomas Cook. They were also one of the first companies to launch commercially on Microsoft's Windows Azure cloud platform.