Pop culture creatorsto speak at festival

Some of the most influential names from the broadcasting and film industries will gather at The Playhouse from April 18 to 20 to celebrate the quality and diversity of work being produced by the Celtic nations today.

Welsh comedian Tudur Owen, Christopher Young, producer of Channel 4’s smash hit The Inbetweeners, Rab Christie producer of Rab C Nesbitt and Mrs Brown’s Boys producer Stephen McCrum will discuss the remarkable impact that the Celts have had on contemporary comedy in a special panel held for the festival.

The festival will launch on Wednesday, April 18 with a screening ‘Derry on Screen’ - a funny, moving and evocative portrait of a city, a region and its people.

From Amelia Earhart’s unexpected landing in a field in Ballyarnet, through to The Troubles and the city’s modern day influence as a European cultural destination, a rich wealth of footage will give viewers an insight into the political and personal perspectives that have helped shaped the city of today.

The centrepiece of the festival is the award of the Bronze Torcs for Excellence. The awards celebrate the very best of film, television, radio and digital media to emerge from within the Celtic diaspora with Celtic languages featuring prominently across all 20 categories.

The chair of this year’s international panel of judges is acclaimed RTE Current Affairs presenter Miriam O’Callaghan and the awards will be presented over the 3 nights of the festival.

This year’s Celtic Media Festival keynote address will be delivered by Peter Johnston, Director of BBC Northern Ireland.

He will speak publicly about the challenges facing the industry and the importance of indigenous/regional broadcasting in a multi-platform age.

Reality Bites looks set to be the most contentious session of the festival. The observational documentary format has been one of the biggest successes of the last decade, with ever more extreme scenarios and participants winning both impressive ratings and outlandish headlines.

Celebrated Londonderry based journalist Eamonn McCann will explore the popularity and ethics of the observational documentary with Julian Kean, producer of The Scheme, Ewan Angus Exec Producer and commissioner of The Scheme, Paul McGuigan Executive Producer of BBC NI’s The Estate and chair Steve Carson from RTÉ.

They’ll consider whether these programmes have a responsibility to the people in the shows, and the role that the viewer plays in shaping the way in which participants are judged.

The Changing Face Of News will explore the way social media has revolutionised news reporting. Social media has unleashed a new form of citizen journalism and with the public becoming reporters, news agencies are fighting to keep up. So what next for the future of news broadcasting?

The impressive panel of experts for this debate includes Siobhan Sinnerton, Channel 4’s Commissioning Editor for News and Current Affairs, Chris Hamilton, Social Media Editor at BBC News and Mark Little, formerly RTE’s and now founder of Storyful.

In ‘The Indigenous Language Of Sport’, David Harron, Editor of Sport for BBC Scotland, Pól Ó Gallchóir, CEO of TG4 and Alan Esslement, Head of Content for BBC Alba will discuss the importance of sports broadcasting to Indigenous Language Channels and whether avid fans are prepared to watch their teams in a language they don’t fully understand.

The festival’s student strand Green Light once again invites media students and new entrants from across the Celtic regions to take part in a diverse and focused programme of events covering various aspects of the media today - animation, production design, camera, documentary making and more... Attendees are also able to be part of everything the main Festival had to offer: the networking, the awards ceremonies and the socialising.

Dòmhnall Caimbeul, Chairman of the Celtic Media Festival said: “We’re very excited to bring the Celtic Media Festival 2012 to Derry-Londonderry.

“This year’s programme looks to be one of our most exciting and diverse yet and we look forward to celebrating the tremendous work that the Celtic nations and regions have produced over the last year.”

Niall McCaughan of The Playhouse said: “The Celtic Media Festival is an extremely prestigious event that invites producers, broadcasters, students, emerging talent, media policy-makers and the general public together to celebrate the very best of Celtic film, television, radio and digital media.

“We are honoured here at The Playhouse to be the venue for what is just the fifth time the festival has been hosted in Northern Ireland in it’s 33 year history. This will certainly be a year to remember!”

For further information on this year’s programme for The Celtic Media Festival, please visit: www.celticmediafestival.co.uk.