Award for ‘Sminky Shorts’ creator
Jason Sullivan’s animations have become a YouTube sensation, notching more than 6m hits worldwide.
The shorts, including Handsome Donkey and Awful Sad, can be viewed on youtube.com/ sminkyanimation.
They feature animals with predominantly Cork accents and Mr Sullivan not only produces the films, but supplies the voices as well.
They were used this year to advertise the Cork Film Festival and Breast Cancer Awareness.
The 27-year-old animator, who is studying multimedia at Cork Institute of Technology, created his first Sminky Short cartoon earlier this year. Thanks to YouTube and Facebook, it was an instant hit and he was encouraged to do more.
The shorts went viral after he produced I Can’t Do It, featuring a horse with a voice remarkably like Roy Keane’s.
He has been signed to the London-based United Agents, which represents the likes of Ricky Gervais, Richard Attenborough, David Dimbleby, and Clive James.
Meanwhile, two Irish films have been catapulted into the international spotlight this week.
The documentary film Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House Of God, directed by Oscar-winning director Alex Gibney, with funding from Bord Scannán na hÉireann/ the Irish Film Board, was shortlisted for an Academy Award nomination in the Best Documentary Feature category.
And short film Irish Folk Furniture, focusing on the heritage of Irish farmhouse furniture, will have its North American premiere at the renowned Sundance Film Festival next month.
