Screen Cornwall at Celtic Media Festival

It’s been a brilliant year for content produced in, and about, the Celtic nations. And what better place to celebrate that than at the Celtic Media Festival 2022, which this year took place in Quimper – a part of Brittany known as “Cournauille” due to immigration from Kernow in the 5th Century.

With the event being delayed for 2 years due to COVID, preparations began a while ago with Screen Cornwall and the Pole Audiovisuel Dournanez, supported by Cornwall Council’s Finistere Co-operation team, organising a zoom pitching event for Breton and Cornish producers around the G7 last year. This was followed up by a delegation of media creatives from the region visiting Falmouth University and Krowji in April, where some detailed ideas of potential co-productions began to emerge.

As we set sail for Brittany in June with a delegation of 14 Cornish filmmakers, thanks to support from Cultivator and University of Plymouth ERDF funded showcase strand, the first stop en route was to meet our collaborators for further project discussions in Dournanez. There are now 4 strong co-production ideas in development which are seeking financing on both sides of the Channel.

Then on to Quimper, where the festival opened with one of four award ceremonies and Cornish talent was represented the short drama section by FylmK commissions MOWES and KESTAV – with the latter winning the Torc award. Over the next two days, the group enjoyed a wide range of conference sessions and meetings with Celtic colleagues as well as the chance to practice dubbing animation into Cornish. Screen Cornwall ran a session to explain the vision for Cornwall’s Public Service Media and progress since the last event in 2019.

Next year the Celtic Media Festival will be held in Donegal in Ireland, and we are aiming for an even larger Cornish representation there. As a three-day celebration of the languages, cultures, and heritage of the Celtic nations through media excellence, the festival brings together both our economic and cultural remit as a screen agency in a glorious celebration of indigenous talent.