Misinterpretation of image the only complaint

In a recent article Tom Barry TD takes issue with the imagery used in a leaflet distributed by Cork Film Centre to highlight their recent Arts Council funding cut, which threatened to close the centre.

Mr Barry describes the leaflet, which was distributed to all elected representatives in Cork City and county, as depicting a man about to get his throat cut.

Animation artist Avril O’Brien says “I drew that picture and it is not a person getting their throat cut! It depicts a man with shaving foam on his face and a barber about to shave him.”

The image is from Nose, an award winning animation, which was co-funded by the Irish Film Board and the Arts Council, directed by Stephen O’Connell, and is based on the Nikolai Gogol satirical short story. In the book and film, Kovalyov wakes up and finds that his previously detached nose is reattached. He is carefully shaved by the barber and happily promenades about the city to show off his nose — we too hope that we wake up to find our funding reattached.

Tom Barry links the image to current events in the Middle East and is quoted as saying “It’s only a matter of time before an Irish aid worker gets caught up in this. I don’t know if they want to use shock value to highlight their case, but if that’s the case then they don’t deserve funding. I felt sick when I saw it.”

Tom Barry appears to be misinterpreting the image to create a controversy for reasons best known to himself, or is trying to deflect the conversation away from the real issue, which is the withdrawal of film support from an entire region. The real losers in this will be those coming out of colleges trying to build their careers, those building their portfolios, young filmmakers and artists taking their first steps in film through schools and youth groups, and the vulnerable in organisations such as Cope and Enable Ireland, all of whom use our services, and many of whom are in Mr Barry’s constituency. The leaflet has been in the public domain for almost 4 months, and has been in every Cork City and County library since July.

We have received support from a range of politicians as a result of the leaflet, and Mr Barry has been the only one to come up with a sensationalist interpretation. The centre is in communication with the Arts Council to review their decision to cease funding, especially in light of their recently published Strategic Review 2014.

Chris Hurley

CEO Cork Film Centre

6 Castleview

Conna

Cork