I’d never been to Venice and always wanted to go see this wonderful city so when I got a phone call telling me that a short film I had made almost two years ago had been accepted in competition to the prestigious Venice Film Festival I was absolutely delighted at the opportunity to go there and be part of it all. I travelled by Ryan Air and I have to say it wasn’t at all bad if you don’t mind roughing it a bit. Travisco is a very small airport about half an hour’s drive by bus from Pia Roma, which is the gateway to Venice and the start of the splendid Grand Canal. I stayed in a small hotel about five minutes walk from St. Mark’s Square. The hotel was a total Kip but it had character and was situated in a charming square or Campo as they’re called. The film is called The Carpenter and his Clumsy Wife. It was written and directed by Peter Foott as his final project for the national film school of Ireland (Dun Laoghaire) and almost took two and a half years to make. It is a black comedy about a Carpenter who uses his skills to repair what he believes to be his wife’s inadequacies. I play the “Clumsy Wife”, a charming gentleman called Sean Colgan plays “The Carpenter” Glynis Casson plays my friendly neighbour and Jim Sheridan narrates. Animation plays a large part in the film and that’s why it took so long to be completed as in some cases it had to be painted frame by frame.
We won a prize in Venice, which meant we got to go to the award ceremony and later to a banquet in the courtyard of the Doge’s palace. The film festival was held out on the Lido so it was very grand travelling across the lagoon on a water taxi (specially when you don’t have to pay for it yourself) dressed in our best and full of excitement. The official title of the prize we won was “special mention of the jury” which is ironic because at the awards ceremony, which was shown live on Italian television, they ran out of time and never “special mentioned” us at all. I got to meet John Boorman, Scarlett Johansson, Spike Lee, Helen Mirren and Mike Fdiggis up close. I also met the director and jury member Renato Berta who apologised to us because he didn’t get to present Peter with his prize on stage.
We also won Best Comedy at the LA short film festival and we have been short listed at several film festivals around the world.
We were chosen to support “Inside I’m Dancing” at the Gala Opening of the Cork Film Festival on the 10th October 2004 and I am just about cured of the hangover ! !
( I have a DVD if any one wants to see it, just ask !)

Nuala Kelly