Dan Ireland
| Dan Ireland | |
|---|---|
| Born | Portland, Oregon, U.S. |
| Died | April 14, 2016 (aged 57) Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Occupation |
|
| Known for | Co-founder of the Seattle International Film Festival |
Daniel Frederick "Dan" Ireland (died April 14, 2016) was an American-Canadian film producer and director. Born in Portland, Oregon, he was the co-founder of the Seattle International Film Festival.
Ireland was born a second of four children of Rainsford and Betty Ireland (née Shantz) in Portland. His date of birth is disputed. Many sources state that he was born in 1958. More likely he was born in 1949.
When he was five years old, his mother moved back to Vancouver, where Ireland grew up.
He began his career in 1976 by co-founding (with Darryl Macdonald) and running the Seattle International Film Festival from 1976-1986. Both Ireland and Macdonald immigrated from Vancouver to take on the task of creating the festival, and opening a first run art theatre, The Egyptian. During his tenure he was responsible for co-booking the prolific World Premieres the festival launched, including Joel and Ethan Coen's Blood Simple, Richard Rush's The Stunt Man, Irvin Kershner's The Empire Strikes Back, Ridley Scott's Alien, Tobe Hooper's Poltergeist, Marek Kanevska's Another Country, Carl Franklin's One False Move, and the American Premieres of George Miller's The Road Warrior, Alan Rudolph's Choose Me, Hector Babanco's Kiss Of The Spider Woman, Akira Kurosawa's Ran, Paul Verhoeven's Soldier of Orange, Spetters and The Fourth Man. In 1983 Ireland was awarded the coveted Golden Calf Award (the Dutch equivalent to the Academy Award) for his contribution to advancing Dutch Films in the United States. His friendship with director Verhoeven helped save the distribution in America for the director's breakthrough US film, the World War II saga, 'Soldier of Orange.'
...
Wikipedia