Short family-friendly Cork films are free to watch

A SERIES of short family-friendly films, all with a Cork connection, will be available free to watch online this month and next, thanks to a link-up between Cork County Council and the Fastnet Film Festival.

The two have come together this festive season to bring viewers 16 family-friendly short films. This celebration of the county on the big screen aims to entertain and inspire this Christmas and New Year. The shorts have all been screened over recent years at the festival in Schull.

They are being presented to the public to highlight the festival and the beauty of Cork county. Four new shorts will be screened each week during the month of December and all 16 will be available online for the month of January.

Cork County Council is honoured to help bring 16 visual representations of the county from the big screen and in to the homes of the people of Cork.

Chief executive Tim Lucey said: ‘Having supported the Fastnet Film Festival since its inception, it was a bitter blow to lose the escapism experienced in previous iterations, especially in this year of all years. To be able to bring a bit of Fastnet in to homes across the county and country is a massive boost for the Arts and for culture in County Cork.’

Festival chair Tom McCarthy said the festival was delighted with the collaboration showcasing the wealth of talent coming out of Cork. ‘This is just a small selection of the short films submitted to us in recent years, and as you will see the standard is very high,’ he added.

It is hoped the shorts will whet the appetite for Fastnet Film Festival 2021 and also perhaps inspire filmmakers and potential filmmakers to pursue the inaugural Puttnam Award which is making €20,000 available to fund production of a live-action drama short film, to be made on Cork’s Wild Atlantic Way with a theme reflecting ‘The New Normal’.

This award aims to inspire filmmakers in Cork and will be a focal point for the Fastnet Film Festival in 2021.

To enjoy the series see http://www.fastnetfilmfestival.com/ccc2020

Cork County Council + Fastnet Film Festival - Online Short Film Programme (54 seconds) from FFF on Vimeo.