Ms. Dara McClatchie

Dara McClatchie, Big Fish Production Manager for Javelin Direct.

Dara McClatchie, of Big Fish Productions, said: "It`s a kind of cynical treatment towards anyone coming in from the developed world, whether or not they are coming over to work.

"On a country basis they say yes or no.They are not really looking at individual cases, it`s almost as though they are making a blanket decision."

Ms McClatchie, who helped arrange work permits for the crew, said some of the applicants worked on a similar project in Ireland last year.

She added that the Irish film industry, which was already facing difficulties, may face harder times by turning away the lucrative Bollywood industry.

Bollywood is the world`s biggest film industry producing more than Hollywood, with cinema numbers in India four times that of the United States.

Ms McClatchie said: "We`re going from a situation where we had a dozen films a year with significant budgets who were coming to Ireland.

Dara McClatchie of Irish company Big Fish Productions Ltd. has spoken out against the Department of Justice, blaming them for the cancellation of two planned Bollywood productions for Ireland.

Speaking to IFTN Dara explains that the Department of Justice has denied access to a 29 person crew and a 5 man reccee team.Despite already being issued with valid work permits for Ireland the Department of Justice has refused them a Visa on the grounds that they have no obligation to return home given that they have no permanent social or economic ties in India.It is believed that because of this, they are likely to break the conditions of their Visa's.Dara says "I this it is ludicrous that the Government departments cannot talk to one another" adding that "the system is unprofessional and very adhoc."

The two projects have been forced to shoot elsewhere since they do not have the time in their production schedule to await an appeal.Dara believes this could be a disastrous move since the Bollywood film industry is already bigger than Hollywood and is growing at a rate of 19% every year.By the year 2007 it is estimated to be worth 1.8 Billion Euros.The use of foreign locations in Bollywood movies is very common and she believes that though the rejected crews are working on small budget movies, the bigger budget films will not consider using Ireland as a location because of these initial setbacks.

Go To IFTN News Home Page

Dara McClatchie, of Big Fish Productions, said: "It's a kind of cynical treatment towards anyone coming in from the (developing) world,
...
McClatchie, who helped arrange work permits for the crew, said some of the applicants worked on a similar project in Ireland last year.

She said the Irish film industry, which was already facing difficulties, might face harder times by turning away the lucrative Bollywood industry.

"We're going from a situation where we had a dozen film makers a year with significant budgets who were coming to Ireland," McClatchie said.