Screening a wealth of talent

Mick Hannigan and Úna Feely tell Colette Sheridan of their Cork Film Festival highlights.

DESPITE the shock of losing their jobs, the former CEO of Cork Film Festival, Mick Hannigan, and programmer, Úna Feely, treasure their memories of the 58-year-old event. Hannigan, who had helmed the festival since 1986, says there was the joy of “discovering talent, like Ken Wardrop. We took bags of DVDs home every night. I remember putting on Undressing My Mother and wondered who the guy behind it was. I went through my database and discovered that Wardrop had submitted about six other films. One was more interesting than the next. I knew this was real talent.”

Hannigan and Feely gave Wardrop a programme for his films. Undressing My Mother, made in 2004, won the European Film Academy Award in 2005. Wardrop later made the charming documentary, His and Hers, about Irish women’s relationships with their men.