Jam Media strikes it lucky with Brendan Gleeson’s star turn in their first movie premiere at Berlin Film Festival

Adapted from the novel by Roddy Doyle, A Greyhound Of A Girl is directed by Italian director Enzo d’Alò – and in addition to Gleeson it features the voices of such other Irish actors as Sharon Horgan, Rosaleen Linehan and Charlene McKenna.

“We got lucky with Brendan’s Oscar nomination coinciding with our launch – because it's actually a few years since Brendan and Sharon recorded their parts,” says John Rice, CEO and co-founder of Jam.

“The timing couldn’t be better – and it will certainly help us at the box office to have a star of his quality involved.

"We’re delighted for him – and hopefully we can capitalise on it as well. It takes so long to make these things, and it would probably cost a lot more if we were trying to get him now.

“The movie is an intergenerational ghost story about a little girl with a passion for cooking.

"It touches upon the theme of death – something that is rare in family or children’s fare – but in the hands of the great Roddy Doyle, it’s handled with great subtlety. It’s touching and it’s funny, and we are delighted to have been involved,” he says.

The co-production, which was carried out in Jam Media’s Dublin and Belfast studios and involved investment of more than €11m, was supported by Screen Ireland as part of a pan-European funding team that also included backing from Northern Ireland, Luxembourg, Latvia and Estonia.

“Being chosen to premiere the movie at Berlin is a huge deal for us. This is our very first feature length movie – and Berlin is very prestigious.

"We are one of just a handful of animated features that have been chosen for it – so we are delighted.”

Jam is already one of the leading producers of animated content for the children’s and pre-school audience. It recently moved into live action, with their comedy sci-fi series Nova Jones already racking up over 1.5m streams on the BBC player. It is also the number one children’s show on RTÉ.

“Previously we would develop our own intellectual property, and finance and produce it all ourselves. During Covid though, it wasn’t always easy to keep a constant stream of work – and we made a decision to diversify more.

"As part of a new five-year strategy we decided to do more live action, more features – and also to work on more third-party intellectual properties, to make sure we always had work for our studios. If we’re not producing, then we’re not making money.”

Jam will have four productions on the go this year – the most it has ever taken on at the one time – and the move into feature-length production is a big step, says Rice. He expects the number of people working on projects between the two studios to go from 150 currently to 200 by the end of the year.

“We wanted more feathers in our cap – and this movie is a lovely feather to have, because now we’re in the movie business.

"It was on time, in budget, and it looks great – so we can now actively seek more of those kinds of productions. We’ve proven we can do it, so it opens up a whole new kind of market that is really fertile, with a whole new range of opportunities.”

The animation industry in Ireland is booming, currently employing in the region of 2,000 people, says Rice. The sector has experienced substantial growth in the last five years, with big successes for Dublin-based Brown Bag Films in particular.

The sector has become one of the country’s best growing export sectors in recent times, with global spending on animated content trebling since 2012 – largely due to the growing popularity of streaming services such as Netflix, Amazon Prime and Disney+.

Rice believes the inclusion of A Greyhound Of A Girl at Berlin will act as yet another driver for the sector.

“Irish animation producers have become renowned for telling stories, particularly for children – in the way the Nordics perhaps are renowned for gritty crime drama.

"Ireland now has a reputation as a hotbed for innovation and talent.”

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