LABOUR OF LOVE

Nicky Gogan, Darklight Film Festival

Bringing arts and culture to the masses

The innovative Darklight Film Festival is one of four companies co-founded by Nicky Gogan. Running from 21st to the 23rd June in Temple Bar, Dublin, the festival brings new and exciting work to Irish audiences through cinema, exhibition and performance and to an international audience via the internet and touring. Darklight screens a selection of international and home produced work.

Thinking Outside The Box

Established in 1999, Gogan explains that the festival has always pushed the boundaries of art, film and technology beyond the mainstream. She graduated from the National College of Art and Design in 1993 with a keen interest in new media and the artistic use of technology.

“There were other film festivals around but we wanted to focus on a new way of making film, music, and art. We show work that isn’t in the main stream and is alternative, progressive, fresh, and experimental. This includes films that are experimental in terms of narrative and method of production,” explains Gogan.

Passion For The Arts

The festival stemmed from a media digital company co-founded by Gogan called Sink Digital Media. The entrepreneur was also one of the founders of Wildlight Channels and production company Still Films. Up until recently the entrepreneur was running the Darklight Festival out of passion and dedication, and was not receiving a lot of funding to run the festival on.

“At the beginning we used the resources from our design company. It is a not for profit organisation and all the profits from the festival went back into it. We get money from the Arts Council now which is great but it took the last seven years to build up to that. This funding has allowed us to hire a full time administrator for the first time this year,” explains the entrepreneur.