John Carney (director)
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John Carney (born 1972 in Dublin) is an Irish film and TV director, most renowned for his award winning movie Once. Carney is a former bass guitarist with The Frames and his former bandmate Glen Hansard is the lead male actor in Once.
[edit] The Frames
John played the bass for The Frames between 1991 and 1993. He also directed music videos for The Frames.
[edit] Film Career
Carney directed November Afternoon, his first feature film in 1996, and was awarded the Best Feature of 1997 by the Irish Times.[1] His second project was more ambitious, he took it upon himself to direct, write and score an hour long tv film entitled Just In Time. The film which starred Frances Barber and Gerard McSorley went on to be awarded the best TV film of 1998.
His next film entitled Park was written and co-directed by Carney and Tom Hall was released in 1999.[2] Two years later in 2001, he co-wrote and directed On the Edge. The film starred Cillian Murphy and Stephen Rea and was released through Universal Studios. He was awarded the Silver Hitchcock Award for On the Edge at the 2001 Dinard Film Festival. The film was co-written by Daniel James.[3]
He then returned to tv writing and directing during the same year. He co-wrote and co-directed the hugely successful RTÉ tv series Bachelors Walk. The independently produced tv series proved the most successful in Irish television history.[4] The series which lasted three seasons and a Christmas special in 2006, and he wrote and directed several of the episodes along with Ciarán Carney and Tom Hall.
In 2003, he co-directed and co-write Zonad with Ciarán Carney and Tom Hall. The movie starred Simon Delaney as Zonad and Cillian Murphy.
Most recently, Carney has directed the feature length movie Once. The movie stars The Frames frontman Glen Hansard, who Carney had played Bass guitar with previously and had also directed music videos for The Frames. It also co-stars Markéta Irglová in the lead female role. The film was first released at the Galway Film Fleadh and had its official world release at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2007. The film was put on the official selection for the festival and won the World Cinema Audience Award in the category Dramatic.[5]
