Support for Film Artists
The Arts Council provides direct support to film artists through film awards and initiatives which are designed to provide artists with an opportunity to make work of a highly creative and experimental nature.
For further information, including guidelines and FAQs, please see the Available Funding page.
It is important for the Arts Council that films made with its support are preserved and made available to the public into the future. For this reason, recipients of film production awards are required to deposit copies of their films at the IFI Irish Film Archive and budgetary provision should be made for this within applications for funding. Download details of delivery requirements here.
Film Bursary Award
Maximum Award €15,000.
The award provides professional artists with the time and resources to think, research, reflect and engage with their arts practice.
Potential proposals could be those that:
- Enable an artist to develop their ideas and practice in the area of experimental or non-narrative film-making
- Enable an artist to consolidate their practice in the area of experimental or non-narrative film-making
Film Project Award
Maximum Production Budget €70,000.
The project award is for high-quality and creatively ambitious films of an experimental nature. The work should be filmic and be made with a view to engaging and challenging audiences and should be made for public exhibition in cinema settings in the first instance.
Potential proposals could be those that:
- Are experimental in form or content
- Are non-narrative in structure
- Involve the creative use of new technologies
Successful applicants may apply for further exhibition support.
Reel Art Award
Maximum Production Budget €90,000.
The Reel Art Award is for creative documentaries on an artistic theme. Film artists should have a passion for their subject and be able to transpose this to the screen and works should be conceived for theatrical exhibition at film festivals and in cultural-cinema settings.
Potential proposals should be those that:
- Are original, imaginative and aesthetically driven treatments of arts subjects
- Offer visually engaging, creative and experimental approaches to their subject
Successful applicants may apply for further exhibition support.
Authored Works Award
Maximum Production Budget €185,000.
Authored Works in a new award to provide film artists with the creative and editorial freedom to make an authored cultural film work from a strong artistic point of view. Films must be artist-led. Only films that can be made within this budget will be considered.
Successful applicants may apply for further exhibition support.
ilDÁNA
Maximum Budget €135,000.
ilDÁNA is a joint initiative with TG4 and the BAI to support creative documentaries on the arts in Irish. The scheme is designed to enhance the TG4 schedule by supporting the making of an ambitious and cinematic long-form documentary on the arts in Irish. This documentary will have a theatrical window before its broadcast in a prime-time slot on TG4.