Sir, – We should have great sympathy for the failures of John Michael McDonagh ("Director of The Guard says Irish films are not 'intelligent'", September 15th). He fails to convince the public, the arts "industry" and even the more objective tax authorities that his Calvary is anything but an Irish film.
It was filmed and set in rural Ireland, featuring a cast including Brendan Gleeson, Chris O’Dowd, Dylan Moran, Pat Shortt, David McSavage and with a plot based on clerical sexual abuse, suppressed adolescent rage, drunkenness, domestic violence and fanaticism.
Whatever about the ordinary filmgoer, Mr McDonogh's arguments evidently also eluded the aesthetes of the Irish Film and Television Academy who insisted on awarding Calvary the 2014 best Irish film accolade. The revered authorities of the Irish Film Board gave his film almost a million euro in funding. Clearly they failed to recognise that his work was too technically accomplished and too intelligent to qualify as Irish. Presumably the artistic devastation of this insult prevents him returning either award or money.
He also seems to have failed to persuade the Revenue Commissioners that his film should not be granted section 481 tax relief certification for, as the Act specifies, the “contribution which the film will make to the development of the film industry in Ireland, and the promotion and expression of Irish culture”. There is hope yet for, as the Revenue’s documentation adds helpfully, the relief can be withdrawn “if it subsequently transpires that these conditions cannot be satisfied”. – Yours, etc,
MICHAEL ANDERSON,
Moyclare Close,
Baldoyle,
Dublin 13.
A chara, – I would never consider the film The Guard to be an intelligent film – which is precisely why I enjoyed it. The old phrase "notions as high as the goats of Kerry" springs to mind when reading Mr McDonagh's comments about Irish films. – Is mise,
JENNY McCABE,
Windmill Park,
Crumlin,
Dublin 12.