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Tuesday 2nd February 2009

Press Release

SECOND ACADEMY AWARD® NOMINATION FOR IRELAND'S BROWN BAG FILMS

Award-winning Irish animation studio, Brown Bag Films has secured its second Academy Award® nomination in 8 years with its short animated film ‘Granny O’Grimm’s Sleeping Beauty’. Brown Bag Films was previously nominated in 2002 for the short film ‘Give Up Yer Aul Sins®’.

The six-minute film of ‘Granny O’Grimm’s Sleeping Beauty’ is directed by Nicky Phelan, produced by Darragh O’Connell for Brown Bag Films and written and performed by comedian Kathleen O’Rourke. It tells the story of a seemingly sweet old lady who terrifies her little granddaughter at bedtime with her dark version of the Sleeping Beauty fairytale.

Granny O’Grimm started life as a character in Kathleen O’Rourke’s comedy show. Director Nicky Phelan saw Granny O’Grimm’s potential as an animated character and, working with Brown Bag Films, production began in 2008. Kathleen O’Rourke reprised her role to voice the character in the short film.

‘Granny O’Grimm’s Sleeping Beauty’ is one of five nominations in its category - up against well-known animation studios such as Pixar, who have made Up, Toy Story, WALL.E and Ratatouille, and Aardman, who make Wallace & Gromit and Shaun the Sheep.

‘Granny O’Grimm’s Sleeping Beauty’ received funding from the Irish Film Board, RTE and the Arts Council through the ‘Frameworks’ scheme. It has received 11 national and international awards including the Newport Beach Film Festival (Outstanding Achievement in Short Films), Cinegael Montreal (Audience Award, Best Short) and the Heart of Gold Film Festival, Australia (Best Comedy)¹.

Speaking of the nomination, Producer Daragh O’Connell said:

“The Academy Award nomination in 2002 for Give Up Yer Aul Sins kick-started Brown Bag Films’ reputation for producing original, character-based animation. Now, 15 years later we’re still producing international award-winning short films and television series. It’s incredible to get such international recognition, and Granny O’Grimm is a film we’re immensely proud of”.

Nicky Phelan, director, added:

“Short films are a labour of love and production was fit around everyone’s day job of TV production– a lot of late evenings and weekends went into Granny! Now that the film has done really well at international film festivals, and with the added boost from the Oscar nomination, it’s gratifying to think of audiences all over the world enjoying it”.

Granny O’Grimm, however was less enthusiastic:

“An Academy Award nomination is not going to boil the potatoes now is it?”

However, when asked about how she’ll take to the red carpet, she was more effusive about the fashion opportunity involved:

“I’ll maybe restrict myself to one chocolate gateau a day for the moment – so I can wear the frock that I bought for my husband’s funeral. It has only one stain, I never could get the pink champagne mark out”.

Granny O’Grimm’s media profile has grown exponentially in recent months. While unhappy that the media may be sticking their nose into her business (and lodging official complaints to that effect), her following has expanded with over 1325 fans on Facebook and over 560 followers (including Jackie Collins) on Twitter. Her personal brand of pessimism and pernicious advice is proving very popular across the globe.

Over 70,000 people have watched ‘Granny O’Grimm’s Sleeping Beauty’ via the internet, and over 22,000 people viewed her acerbic Christmas greetings to the world online. Her hairstyle was recently compared to Jedward’s by the Irish media and she was cited as ‘One to Watch in 2010’ by the Irish Times. Neither reference impressed her.

Meet Granny and watch ‘Granny O’Grimm’s Sleeping Beauty’ on: www.grannyogrimm.com

Granny can be contacted via Facebook at http://bit.ly/grannyfb and also followed on www.twitter.com/grannyogrimm

¹ Further information and full listing available in the Note for Editors

For further media information please contact:

Email: press@brownbagfilms.com
Tel: +353 (1)872 1608