Eimhin getting animated about school workshops

A NORTH Clare animator, whose work has been highly acclaimed in the United States, is now teaching at workshops all over the country, most recently at the Charlie Chaplin Comedy Film Festival in Waterville, Kerry.
In early 2010, Eimhin McNamara from Lisdoonvarna experienced the red carpet treatment at the International Animated Film Society awards (Annies) at Royce Hall in Los Angeles. The Rooster, the Crocodile and the Night Sky, a short film that Eimhin made along with director, Pádraig Fagan, narrowly missed out on the top prize. The two young men travelled to Hollywood with the support of the National Film School, representing Barley Films from Dublin.
Explaining how things have panned out since then, Eimhin said in addition to his commercial and short film work, in the past year he has begun teaching animation workshops around the country.
“In addition to these small three-hour classes I also facilitated a large-scale workshop in Tinahely, County Wicklow. This project, The PURE Wicked Animation Film School, came about as an initiative of Wicklow County Council Arts Office in partnership with the PURE (Protecting Uplands and Rural Environments) Project with funding from the Arts Council and the support of the Courthouse Arts Centre, Tinahely and the County Wicklow Film Commission, with its aim being to help promote the PURE project’s campaign and bring attention to the importance of Ireland’s environment.
“The animation film school took place over two weeks in July, with 30 students between the ages of 10-17 and at the end of it, we had seven films. At the moment, I’m organising more workshops, with two coming up in Sligo and Kilkenny and am planning a primary-school class in Fanore and Lisdoonvarna as well,” Eimhin said.
He hopes to host a similar two-week long animation film school event in Clare, either next Easter or during the summer.
“I’m currently contacting possible locations and organisations to work with. Also, I’m trying to get the word out to as many people as I can to generate interest in this kind of project and to let parents and students alike know what kind of class is on offer,” he said.