As part of an innovative social media challenge, people across the North West are being asked to support a Donegal film by viewing it online.
The Regional Cultural Centre has just launched the challenge to promote one film from Derry and one from Donegal using social media and free digital marketing tools.
The Donegal film is “Brighter Days”, created by Letterkenny-native Daniel McGarrigle.
The challenge is to promote “Brighter Days” to the biggest possible audience in just 3 weeks.
The results of the challenge will be presented at a free seminar in Letterkenny on 25th November along with a description of how the promotion was carried out.
The 6 minute animated film, “Brighter Days” tells the story of Daniel McGarrigle’s grandfather Colm Melly and is based on Colm’s experiences of emigrating to England in the 1940s and returning to Donegal to raise his family.
The film is one of twenty produced as part of the “Sharing Stories” project run by the Regional Cultural Centre in Letterkenny and the Nerve Centre in Derry.
Local digital marketing company DohertyWhite is helping to promote “Brighter Days” using social and digital media.
“We need people across the North West to help promote the film by viewing it on YouTube or visiting Facebook page and then sharing it with their friends and colleagues”, says Annmarie Doherty of DohertyWhite.
“Everything we do over the 3 weeks will be shared with local arts and community groups at a free seminar on 25th November so they can promote their work using the same approach”.
The film Brighter Days is narrated by Colm Melly and has been created using traditional hand-drawn animation techniques along with computer generated animation and is accompanied by a soundtrack featuring some of Donegal’s most prominent traditional musicians.
Brighter Days can be viewed at http://www.sharingstoriesbrighterdays.blogspot.com/ or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/sharingstoriesbrighterdays. You can also view it directly on YouTube at http://youtu.be/gC_T6y9Oy9U.
The official opening of the Sharing Stories Exhibition will take place on Friday 11th November at 7pm in the Regional Cultural Centre, Letterkenny.
The Sharing Stories project supported a series of 20 community and artist films made in Derry and Donegal over the past 2 years. Sharing Stories is a cross-border community film project led by the Regional Cultural Centre, Letterkenny in partnership with the Nerve Centre, Derry. The project is funded by the International Fund for Ireland