Barry Dignam began his career studying drama in Trinity College,
Dublin. He then directed a number of stage plays before returning to
university to study for a degree in film at the Dun Laoghaire Institute
of Art, Design & Technology. In 1998 he wrote and directed "Stages" for
which he won the Royal Television Society all-Ireland award for Best
Student Film (Fiction).
In 1999 Barry directed and produced the comedy Dream Kitchen (1999) which won Best
Irish Short Film at the Galway Film Fleadh and Best Short Film at the
Rose Film Festival, Tralee. "Dream Kitchen" was nominated for a Golden
Bear at the Berlin Film Festival 2000 and won the Audience Award for
Best Short and Best Supporting Actor Award (Frank Coughlan) at the New
York Independent Film Festival 2001. "Dream Kitchen" has gone on to
play at over one hundred and fifty of the worlds top film festivals and
has been acquired by a large number of television networks including
Canal +, Film 4, PBS and RTE and has been theatrically released in a
number of territories.
Barry produced "In Loving Memory" by Audrey O'Reilly an RTE / Irish
Film Board "Shortcut" which won the Prix du Public at the prestigious
Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Festival the Best Foreign Film at the New
York Independent Film Festival. "In Loving Memory" also won the UIP
Award for Best Shortcut / Oscailt and was nominated for an Irish Film
and Television Academy Award.
Barry produced and directed a 35mm short Chicken (2001) written by Audrey
O'Reilly and commissioned by the Irish Film Board under it's "Short
Shorts" scheme which premiered in the Official Selection - in
Competition at Cannes Film Festival 2001. The film won the Jury Prize
for Best Short Film at the Newport International Film Festival, Rhode
Island, Best Short at the Dublin Gay & Lesbian Film Festival and a
Special Jury Commendation at the Barcelona Gay & Lesbian Film Festival
and the BFI London Lesbian & Gay Film Festival 2002. The film continues
to play at premier film festivals throughout the world and has been
acquired by numerous TV stations including RTE, Film Four, PBS and
Canal+. "Chicken" has been released on DVD and Video in France
(Antiprod) and the US (Picture This!).
Barry is currently in development on two feature projects as director,
"Breaking Rocks", written by Robert Bourke with which he was selected
for the Moonstone International Filmmaker's Lab in January 2003. The
other, "Try Tony" written by Pom Boyd and to be produced by Siobhan
Bourke of Rough Magic Films. Both feature projects have received
development support from the Irish Film Board.
In May 2003 Barry will shoot "A Ferret Called Johnny" written by
Loughlin Deegan and produced by Siobhan Bourke which has been
commissioned by the Irish Film Board and RTE under their "Shortcuts"
strand. Barry also lectures in film directing at the Dun Laoghaire
Institute of Art, Design & Technology.
