Queen’s goes to the Oscars!  

21 January 2015

A cast of Queen’s alumni and students are keeping their fingers crossed that their latest movie will be among the glittering winners in Hollywood next month. 

 

The film – Boogaloo and Graham – which is set in 1970s Belfast,has been nominated in the Short Film (Live Action) category at this year’s Academy Awards. Directed by Michael Lennox it is about two young boys who discover the facts of life with the help of their pet chickens.

 

Boogaloo and Graham is the latest film from producer Brian J Falconer (BEng Architectural Engineering, 2003), who previously worked on Land Is God, Yuki and White Widow.

 

The screenplay was written by Ronan Blaney (BA English, 1989), who also worked on Love Bite (2012) and has writing credits for The Back of Beyond and Nine Lives (also 2012) and for an episode of the TV series Coming Up (2010).

 

Actor Martin McCann, who plays the soft-hearted father responsible for presenting sons Jamesy and Malachy with two baby chicks, also went to Queen’s where he did an undergraduate certificate in Career Management & Employability Skills in 2001. And the actor who portrays the older Jamesy has a BA in English and Drama (2001). Jonathan Harden, who has numerous television and film credits to his name, played the part of Newman Noggs in the TV mini-series The Life and Adventures of Nick Nickleby (2012).

 

The picture, which was nominated for a 2015 BAFTA and was screened at the Toronto International Film Festival and at the Galway Film Fleadh, also has a strong student connection to Queen’s. Third year film studies undergraduates in the School of Creative Arts – Rebecca Kelly and Rebekah Davis – worked on the film as assistant producer and runner respectively.

 

Commenting on her experience, Rebekah Davis said: “I got basically involved because I've worked with Michael Lennox on lots of other Cinemagic projects. He asked me to be a runner but I ended up doing lots of bits and pieces during the four days such as location managing and taking actors to and from the unit base to the set.

 

“Michael knows I'm interested in the camera side of things and he made sure I was able to see what was being shot on the monitor so I had a real close up look at what was happening.

 

“It was so exciting that I was able to see the workings of an Oscar and BAFTA nominated set, and to realise that it is possible for people like me and the rest of my class to make material like this. Northern Ireland is going places!”

 

Northern Ireland has enjoyed success in this category in recent years. Belfast man Terry George won an Oscar for his short film The Shore in 2012 and received an Honorary Degree from Queen’s the following year.

 

The 87th Academy Awards ceremony will be held on Sunday 22 February 2015 at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood.

 

For more on film studies in the School of Creative Arts at Queen’s telephone 028 9097 5337 or email soca@qub.ac.uk.

 

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