Remarks at the Opening of the National Film School Building, Institute of Art, Design and Technology
Dún Laoghaire, 26th November 2013
Tá ríméad orm bheith anseo libh uilig inniu in Institiúid Ealaíne, Deartha agus Teicneolaíochta, Dhún Laoghaire (an IADT) chun áras nua na Scoile Náisiúnta Scannánaíochta a oscailt go foirmiúil. Ba mhaith liom mo bhuíochas a ghabháil le hUachtarán na hInstitiúide, an Dochtúir Annie Doona, as ucht an cuireadh a chuir sí chugam bheith anseo in bhur dteannta ar maidin, agus gabhaim buíochas libhse go léir as an bhfáilte mhór sin.
[It is a pleasure to be here with you all at Dún Laoghaire Institute of Arts Design and Technology (the IADT) to formally open the National Film School’s new building.
I would like to thank the Institute’s President, Dr. Annie Doona, for her kind invitation to join you this morning, and all of you for that warm welcome.]
Dún Laoghaire is surely an appropriate location for an Irish Film School, as this town provided the settings for the first newsreel of any length filmed in Ireland, which recorded the arrival of Queen Victoria on our shores at the end of the 19th century.
May I note that today we are also celebrating the 10th anniversary of the establishment of the National Film School, launched as it was on 27th November 2003. And I would like to avail of this occasion to congratulate the School’s faculty and students for their consistently high record of achievement since this school first opened its doors.
It is most encouraging, during the challenging economic times our country is going through, to be able to open a facility that will so clearly advance the provision of high quality training in the art of filmmaking. It shows us that even in difficult circumstances, there is still widespread support across the community for the development of the arts in Ireland.
Indeed celebratory events such as this one remind us of the great contribution of the arts to our lives, to citizenship in an inclusive way, to employment in the most creative way, and to our Irishness, in the best sense.
I am delighted that we are joined for this auspicious occasion by Neil Jordan, Jim Sheridan, Morgan O’Sullivan and Sinéad Cusack.
I know that, complementing government funding, 78 founding sponsors –including film, animation and television production companies, broadcasters, and even individuals– have made donations to the National Film School, thus making it possible for this fine educational infrastructure to be built. So may I commend all those whose involvement has enabled this wonderful project to come to fruition.
Traosláim libh agus gabhaim buíochas libh ar son muintir na hÉireann.
The new building makes available state-of-the-art technology to film students at the IADT. It features two professional TV and film studios with high definition cameras, one of which has green-screen capabilities. It also has two radio studios, along with control rooms, lecture rooms, a newsroom, offices and ancillary spaces. I can only imagine the enthusiasm of the students who thus have a chance to engage with all the various facets, techniques and possibilities of filmmaking, TV and radio broadcasting.
Beyond the access to state-of-the-art technology, what is unique about the IADT is that it brings together the entire range of disciplines that play a part in the making of a movie – from model-making, set design, lighting, costume design and makeup, animation and special effects, on to film production and editing.
These very high standards of applied film education probably explain IADT’s constantly enhanced reputation, and the success its students’ productions have had in professional competitions and festivals, both at home and abroad. This year again, the National Film School’s graduates and current students were very successful at the annual Irish Film and Television Academy Awards, receiving a record 26 nominations and winning six IFTA statuettes.
Film is a most powerful art form, one that encapsulates –as Walter Benjamin has shown– our modern condition. Indeed film utilises technology in a way which maintains a peculiar relationship to the immediate perceived reality. Movies are works of art which are recomposed from fragments. Where the classical artist painted an entire scene, the filmmaker, in contrast, cuts up and reassembles the reality she or he wishes to re-present. The wide spectrum of technical means that are at the filmmaker’s disposal in conveying his or her own subjective vision of reality has become even more diversified through the recent digital revolution – which, of course, is not at the cost of the enduring power of narrative.
Like every work of art, a great film can have transformative power, even change the way we view the world; it has the power, for example, of altering the manner in which we understand human struggles or make links between past memories and present realities, between inherited sensibilities or narratives and imagined liberations. Many of the great films are also those which have the courage to explore new themes or to examine old certainties from new angles – films that experiment with language, style and characterisation. The legacy of such exceptional works, through their craft and sensibility, is to truly advance the art of film, ensuring that it remains constantly relevant, challenging and thought provoking.
As an industry, film is a significant contributor to our economy. According to
Bord Scannán na hÉireann, the audiovisual production sector in Ireland is currently estimated to be worth over €550 million and it employs over 6,000 people in full-time jobs. The Irish film sector was recently described in the legendary American magazine Variety as “now achieving a critical mass of talent to match the kind of influence, disproportionate to its small size, that the country has always enjoyed in the fields of literature and theatre”.
This Variety article rightly emphasizes the question of “talent.” Indeed, quite apart from its contribution to Ireland’s GDP, it is as important to recognize the large range of skills, the rich artistic practices and the vibrant imaginary worlds embedded in the audiovisual sector.
Last week I had the honour of giving an address to Trinity College Historical Society on the subject of The Worthiness of the Arts in the 21st Century. In that address I referred to what I deem to be a most significant shift in the contemporary debate on culture, that is, the narrowing down of what were previously public discussions about the nature of the arts into an argument as to the economic value of the so-called “creative industries.”
Indeed it seems to me that we are witnessing the rise, in post-industrial Europe, of a new paradigm which suggests that national economies can remain competitive if the right conditions are put in place for creativity and innovation to flourish within a new entrepreneurial culture. The significance of the arts and, more broadly, of culture, is thus being redefined primarily in terms of their contribution to employment, exports and economic growth, with their role in life and living, in citizenship, at times getting insufficient regard.
The real challenge for the future of our society lies in our ability to articulate a positive discourse about the arts and artistic practice which leaves us with an enhanced conception of citizenship and a version of human activity that goes beyond any utilitarian perspective. We need a discourse that recognizes the contribution of the arts to the economy and to job creation but that ultimately defines value on the basis of an ethical conception of human flourishing.
The challenge, therefore, is to reaffirm that the value of the arts lies primarily in the quality of depth, intensity of vision, and loyalty to the infinite possibilities of human imagination, that their practice can yield.
Tá a fhios agam go bhfuil glactha le dúshlán den sórt sin ag IADT Dhún Laoghaire ó thráth a bunaithe ar an gcéad lá d’Aibreán 1997 ar aghaidh. Is Institiúid Teicneolaíochta bheo fhuinniúill í seo; is institiúid í a chothaíonn an chruthaitheacht agus a mhisníonn mic léinn a gcuid tallann a fhorbairt agus nua-smaointe misniúla a shaothrú.
[I know that such a challenge is one that has been endorsed by Dún Laoghaire IADT ever since its establishment on 1st April 1997. This is a most vibrant Institute of Technology, an institution that nurtures creativity and encourages students to cultivate their talent and pursue new, bold ideas.]
May I conclude by congratulating the professors and all the members of the educational community who make this National Film School such a thriving place; all those who – day after day – support students in acquiring the skills they need to walk their own imaginative path.
Finally, may I wish the students who are gathered here this morning every success in their future endeavours. In so far as artistic practice is about possibility and the opening up of new horizons, about the exploration of unknown territories through the combined powers of will and imagination, my wish for you is that you create works of art that push beyond the boundaries of familiarity, in exploration of the many novel, uncharted zones of our lives, recalled and yet to be imagined.