John Carney

Born 1972, Dublin. He began his film career directing two short films, SHINING STAR and HOTEL, and several music videos for the Irish band The Frames, with whom he also played bass guitar from 1991 to 1993. These musical roots continue to be evident in his work. In 1996 he made his first feature film as a director, NOVEMBER AFTERNOON. In 1998 he directed, wrote and scored the TV movie JUST IN TIME. In 2001 he co-wrote and directed the feature film ON THE EDGE. He subsequently turned his hand to TV, writing and directing three seasons of the TV series BACHELORS WALK. In 2006 he wrote and directed the feature film ONCE, which won the 2008 Academy Award for Best Original Song.

Director’s statement

“I wanted to do something with the idea of a couple who work together in the same area of the arts, and what happens to the relationship when the playing field stops being level and one of them takes off. What happens to intimacy and trust and loyalty when fame comes along?”.
“I got to see that whole world of A&R and publishing first hand before I left that world and got into film and TV. So I started to think – where are those A&R guys now? The ones in Ireland in the 1990s who were looking for the next U2 – where are they now that the industry has changed so much? Let’s find one of those guys and see where he is now, what happens when the jaded music executive of the nineties meets the young optimistic girl from now who can record and mix her album on her computer”.