The name Fiona Ashe may soon be mentioned in the same revered tones that movie-fans used to utter the names of directors Jim Sheridan and Neil Jordan.
Indeed, the Drogheda woman’s short film ‘Shades of Gray’, which she shot in New York City, was described by Oscar-nominated Sheridan as ‘very good….very well directed”.
Now, award-winning Fiona, who lives in Roschoill, is not only enjoying great success with her medieval comedy ‘Rapunzel – The Blonde Years’, filmed at Barmeath Castle in Co Louth, but is attached to direct the movie adaptation of Wall Street Journal bestseller ‘The Go-Giver’ by Bob Burg and John David Mann.
‘It’s a hugely exciting time, and from having always wanted to direct films or be involved in television in some way, it’s great to be realising my ambitions, and with such amazing writers,’ the former Sacred Heart girl says.
‘Rapunzel – The Blonde Years has already secured distribution and has screened at the Galway Film Fleadh, Dublin’s Darklight Film Festival, the 11/22 Comedy Shorts Film Festival in Austria and the Notting Hill festival, which toured London, Rome, Chicago and Cannes.
‘It is due to screen at the International Film Festival Ireland in Clonmel, Co Tipperary, and the Silk City Fest in Connecticut, USA shortly, and it has had an amazing 50,000 hits on Youtube so far.’
A graduate of Dublin City University where she received an Honours Degree in Communications Studies, Fiona also graduated from the New York Film Academy with a Diploma in Advanced Film Directing.
Her digital short film, ‘I Love You Suzie’, received its world premiere at the Boston Irish Film Festival 2007 and the following year she completed ‘Save Tara Valley’, about a human aerial art project on the Hill of Tara opposing the construction of the M3 motorway through the historic Tara Valley. The film features Irish Hollywood star, Stuart Townsend.
‘A real highpoint came in February 2003 when I was selected for the first ever Berlinale Talent Campus – a winter film academy which brought 500 filmmakers from 61 countries together on the fringes of the prestigious Berlin Film Festival,’ she says.
Fiona’s latest project sees her adapting the book ‘The Go-Giver’ by Bob Burg and John David Mann for screen, as well as taking on the task of directing this hugely popular tale.
‘I’ve always been a fan of the book, so it is amazing to have been selected to direct it,’ she says
More details on Fiona’s films and her marketing and communications company can be found on www.FionaAshe.com
This is an article written by Alison Comyn and published in the Drogheda Independent newspaper in September 2009.
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