Open Call for Graduate Film Artists - CIFF, National Sculpture Factory & Sample-Studios' Parallax Emerging Film Artist Award - Cork International Film Festival
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Open Call for Graduate Film Artists – CIFF, National Sculpture Factory & Sample-Studios’ Parallax Emerging Film Artist Award

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OPEN CALL FOR GRADUATE FILM ARTISTS 

Cork International Film Festival, National Sculpture Factory and Sample-Studios are delighted to announce an open call for applications for the Parallax Emerging Film Artist Award. The closing date for receipt of applications has been extended to Wednesday, 3rd July 2024.

Established in 2022, this unique Award seeks out, supports and platforms graduate film artists from Irish fine art tertiary education institutions and is a collaboration between three significant arts-based organisations in Cork. 

Visitors to Myfanwy Frost-Jones’ solo exhibition, ‘Another Country’, as part of Parallax Emerging Film Artist Award 2023

The Parallax Emerging Film Artist Award will be presented at the Cork International Film Festival’s Parallax Strand – profiling Film Artists and Artist Moving Image work – at the prestigious 70th Cork International Film Festival (CIFF) in November 2025.

The selection panel includes film artists and representatives from CIFF, National Sculpture Factory and Sample-Studios.

This Call for the Parallax Emerging Film Artist Award is open to 2024 graduates of degree programmes in Irish third level visual art education institutions. The Award comprises:

  • €5,000 bursary
  • 12 month Associate Membership with Sample-Studios with associated access to training, equipment and workspace.
  • Studio space provision from the National Sculpture Factory
  • Solo exhibition opportunity in Sample-Studios’ Gallery, The Lord Mayor’s Pavilion, as part of the Cork International Film Festival Programme in November 2025.

Applicants must submit the following materials to parallaxawards@corkfilmfest.org by Wednesday, 3rd July 2024:

  • Artist CV (Max 2 pages)
  • Artist Statement (max 300 words)
  • Link to artist website (if relevant)
  • Up to 5 images/stills of work (minimum 300 dpi)
  • Up to 5 links to recent film work 
  • An outline of the work you intend to pursue as part of the Award and how you feel this Award will support your further development as a film artist (max 500 words)

Previous recipients of the Parallax Emerging Artist Award are MTU Crawford College of Art and Design Graduate, Myfanwy Frost-Jones (2022-23) and TUS Limerick School of Art and Design graduate Asha Murray (2023-24). Frost-Jones presented a solo exhibition of new work, ‘Another Country’, as part of 68th CIFF in November 2023 and Murray will present her solo exhibition as part of the 69th Festival in November 2024.

Myfanwy Frost-Jones commented: “The support and encouragement that I received from the Parallax team – from Sample-Studios, the National Sculpture Factory and CIFF – was essential to the development of my new work with my Irish/Ugandan family archives and my Complicated Legacies video work. I would definitely recommend the experience  to any emerging artist considering applying in the future.”  (myfanwyfrost-jones.com)

CIFF has been collaborating with National Sculpture Factory (NSF) for 14 years, showcasing the work of a significant and established Irish film artist annually in November, during the Festival. 

Building on a rich legacy of presenting work by renowned film artists, such as Gerard Byrne, Michael McDonough, Johanna Billings, Phil Collins, Alan Butler, Doireann O’Malley, and Patrick Hough, the partnership provides a meaningful partnership platform for presenting work that is conceptually experimental and challenging while also engaging wider audiences with artist and experimental film.. In 2019, the collaboration expanded to present the work of Graduate Bríd Murphy which was subsequently presented in the National Gallery of Ireland and Crawford Art Gallery as part of the Zurich Portrait Prize exhibition.

In 2021-22, CIFF continued to champion promising graduate artists by establishing a new partnership with Sample-Studios. With the support of the Arts Council of Ireland Commissions Award, the partnership commissioned Sample-Studios Graduate Artist in Residence, Elinor O’Donovan, to create an artwork inspired by CIFF’s ‘Female Visions’ Retrospective Programme. The resultant piece, ‘Crashers’, was displayed throughout Cork City as part of the 66th Festival in 2021. Elinor subsequently presented her new short film as part of the Best of Cork programme in 2023 and has since been awarded the Jane Anne Rothwell Award with Cork Midsummer Festival, the Island City public art commission and was recently shortlisted for the Golden Fleece Award.

In 2022, all three Cork-based organisations joined together to establish a new award to support and platform graduate film artists. 

Group applications by one or more artists working together or as a collective are ineligible. Please note that this is not a studio-based residency and there is no residential component to the residency ie: it is not essential for successful applicants to undertake a period of living in Cork in order to engage with a studio setting in Cork but applicants must demonstrate a willingness to travel to Cork to facilitate site visits and meetings with partners in advance of their solo exhibition.

For additional information, please contact parallaxawards@corkfilmfest.org

Images: Jed Niezgoda

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