DUMBWORLD
Dumbworld is an artist led creative production company established in 2009 by composer/producer Brian Irvine and Paris based filmmaker/writer/ director John McIllduff. Dumbworld works collaboratively and in partnership with various national and international artists, organisations and practitioners. Working across disciplines Dumbworld creates artistically ambitious and exciting pieces t
hat involve working closely with significant practicing professionals as well as people of all ages, experiences and backgrounds. In 2014 Dumbworld was awarded annual funding from the Arts Council of Northern Ireland. The work includes operas, feature films, documentaries, public art installations and performance pieces. In the short time since its formation Dumbworld has created and produced two full-scale operas, two short film operas, two children’s animated orchestral oratorios, a feature film, a feature documentary as well as the Northern Ireland’s largest ever public art installation NEST commissioned by the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad. Dumbworld’s work has been performed and seen in over 30 countries and has been recognized internationally – 2011 Irish Allianz Arts Award for Opera (best use of music in the community), 2011 Florence film Festival (best film), 2011 Festival Les Escales (Audience Award), 2011 Thessalonaki Film Festival (best film), 2011 British Composers Award (nomination), 2011 Irish Times Theatre Award for Opera (nomination). BRIAN IRVINE
Brian Irvine is a composer from Northern Ireland whose body of work reflects an inexhaustible love of music creation in all its forms including operas, orchestral works, large-scale community oratorios, film scores, installations, dance works as well as ensemble, solo, and chamber pieces. In 2011 he was awarded an MBE for services to music and in 2014 appointed as the first ever Belfast Music Laureate. He was the Associate Composer with the Ulster Orchestra (2007-2011) and is currently Professor of Creative Arts at the University of Ulster. Brian's music has been performed and commissioned by many orchestras and companies, such as the Northern Sinfonia and Channel 4 and has received numerous Awards including the British Composers Award for Opera and a BBC Radio 3 Jazz Award. He has toured extensively with his own 12 piece ensemble (BBC Radio 3 Music Award winners), appearing at leading international music festivals and venues, including the Queen Elizabeth Hall at the South Bank Centre, Washington National Library of Congress, Edinburgh International Festival and the Moscow International House of Music.
“…some of the most exhilarating and imaginative music you’ll ever hope to hear...musical play in the highest sense: exuberant, spontaneous and irresistibly alive.” Washington Post
JOHN MCILDUFF
Paris based John McIlduff is a writer, filmmaker and stage director from Northern Ireland, who after studying at L’École de Theatre Jacques Lecoq in Paris launched a prolific and versatile career that has ranged from feature films and shorts to television scripts, operas and animation. He has written & directed 10 films, 16 operas and theatre productions and is an in-demand bi-lingual script writer for French television. His scripts in development include East Belfast Yacht Club, which won a place in the prestigious Moonstone International Screenwriters’ Lab as well as the Media New Talent Award from the European Commission and the Prix de Qualité from the CNC, France. John's highly anticipated 2011 Film4 feature film Behold the Lamb received numerous film festival awards including Official Selection: Toronto International Film Festival, Best Screenplay: Thessoloniki International Film Festival and Winner of Prix de la Mis en Scene at the Arras International Film Festival in France. "Slender fest item marks tyro helmer-writer John McIlduff as a talent to watch. A triumph of grungy production design, pic gets periodic energy boosts from Brian Irvine’s spot-on score."
