On Sunday, 13th July, the 26th Galway Film Fleadh came to a close, following another outstanding year of Irish and international film premieres, screenings, workshops and discussions. The annual awards ceremony, which took place before the screening of closing film An Bronntanas, was attended by its stars John Finn and Dara Devaney and director Tom Collins (Kings).
Two special Galway Hooker Awards were given to Brenda Fricker and Brown Bag Films.
Brenda captivated an audience with an engaging public interview with Sean Rocks at the Town Hall, and received a rapturous ovation from the crowd, followed by a screening of her latest film, A Long Way from Home, attended by the director Virginia Gilbert.
The founding duo of animation powerhouse Brown Bag Films were the subject of this year’s Irish Tribute at the Fleadh in recognition of their success as Irish animators on the international stage, including such successes as Doc McStuffins and two Oscar-nominated shorts. They were presented with the award at Sunday’s ceremony after a retrospective of their work and a workshop with young animators on Saturday.
Since 2011 the Fleadh has been recognised as a qualifying festival for the Academy Awards Short Film Category, with recipients of the James Horgan Award for Best Animation and Tiernan MacBride Award for Best Short Drama qualifying for consideration. The James Horgan Award for Best Animation title was won by Robert Cullen’s Fresh Cut Grass, with a special mention for Sarah Walsh’s Marrying the Sea. The Tiernan McBride Award for Best Short Drama was won by Dave Tynan’s Rockmount, with the jury giving a special mention to Michael Lennox for his restrained, quiet and ever-delicate treatment of a complex family dynamic amid a difficult and turbulent transition in Boogaloo & Graham.
The Fleadh is also awards the The Bingham Ray New Talent Award which saw five rising stars in the fields of Producing, Acting & Direction nominated. Those were Producer AnneMarie Naughton for The Canal, Actor Moe Dunford for Patrick’s Day, Director Niall Heery for Gold, Actor Dara Devaney for An Bronntanas, and Actress Tara Breathnach for A Nightingale Falling. The award went to AnneMarie Naughton for her work on the production of Ivan Kavanagh’s psychological horror The Canal.
Big Irish winners include I Used to Live Here which picked up the Best First Irish Feature, with Blood Fruit and One Million Dubliners jointly winning Best Irish Feature Documentary, while Glassland and Patrick’s Day were joint winners of the award for Best Irish Feature.
The full list of winners is as below:
The James Horgan Award for Best Animation
Special Mention: Marrying the Sea
Director: Sarah Walsh
Producer: IADT
Winner: Fresh Cut Grass
Director: Robert Cullen
Producer: Anne Tweedy, Peter Lewis
The Tiernan McBride Award for Best Short Drama (in Association with Network Ireland Television), Presented by Derry O’Brien
Special Mention: Boogaloo & Graham
Director: Michael Lennox
Producer: Brian J. Falconer
Winner: Rockmount
Director: Dave Tynan
Producer: Michael Donnelly
The Donal Gilligan Award for Best Cinematography in a Short Film (in Association with The Irish Society of Cinematographers (ISC)), Presented by Charlotte Somers and Michael, Joe, and Finn Gilligan
Special Mention: The Swing
Winner: Patrick Jordan – Volkswagen Joe
The Best First Short Animation Award (in Association with Cartoon Saloon), Presented by Kate O’Toole
Special Mention: Forgot
Director: Stephen McNally
Producer: Royal College of Art
Winner: A Girl’s Best Friend
Director: Clare Carroll
Producer: IADT
The Best First Short Drama Award (in Association with Mazars), Presented by Paul Mee
Special Mention: Luke
Director: Conor Hamil
Producer: Joshua Burdon
Winner: The Swing
Director: Damien Dunne
Producer: Nora Windeck
The Best Short Documentary Award (in Association with Teach Solais), Presented by John Finn
Joint Winners
The Sisters
Director: Ailish Sarah Flaherty
Producer: Ailish Sarah Flaherty
Inez – A Challenging Woman
Directors: Eimhear O’Neill, Trevor Birney
Producer: Trevor Birney, Susan McKay, Eimhear O’Neill
Best Animation Sequence in a Short Film, Presented by Steve Woods
Special Mention: Somewhere Down the Line
Director: Julien Regnard
Producer: Jonathan Clarke
Winner: Vertical Horizons
Director: Anita Gaughan
Producer: IADT
The Don Quixote Award for Animation in a Short Film, Presented by Susanne Molter
Special Mention: Shoot
Director: Rory Conroy
Producer: Ballyfermott College of Further Education
Winner: Deadly
Director: Aidan McAteer
Producer: Shannon George
FEATURE FILM AUDIENCE AWARDS
Best Irish First Feature (in association with Crowe Horwath) presented by Naoise Cosgrove
Winner: I Used to Live Here
Director and Producer: Frank Berry
Best International First Feature, presented by Kate O’Toole
Second Place: Rhymes for Young Girls
Director: Jeff Barnaby
Producer : John Christou, Aisling Chin-Yee
Winner: Still
Director and Producer: Simon Blake
Best Irish Feature (in association with VOLTA), presented by Gale Wilson
Second Place: Noble
Director : Steven Bradley
Producer : Melanie Gore-Grimes & Steven Bradley
Joint Winners
Glassland
Director: Gerard Barrett
Producer: Juliette Bonass & Ed Guiney
Patrick’s Day
Director: Terry McMahon
Producers: Rachel Lysaght & Tim Palmer
Best International Feature presented by: Kate O’Toole
Second Place: The Enemy Within
Director : Yorgos Tsemberopoulos
Producer: Eleni Kossyfidou
Winner: Obvious Child
Director: Gillian Robespierre
Producer: Elizabeth Holm
Best Irish Feature Documentary (in association with HC Financial Advisers), presented by Hannah Kiely
Second Place: A City Dreaming
Director: Mark McCauley
Producers: Chris Martin & Andrew Eaton
Joint Winners
Blood Fruit
Director: Sinéad O’Brien
Producer: Noel Pearson
One Million Dubliners
Director: Aoife Kelleher
Producer: Rachel Lysaght
Best International Feature Documentary, presented by Kate O’Toole
Second Place: Brave Miss World
Director: Cecilia Peck
Producers: Cecilia Peck & Imbal Blessner
Winner: The Breach
Director: Mark Titus
Producer: Susan La Salle
Best Human Rights Feature (in association with Amnesty International), presented by Susanna Rastelli
Winner: African Pride
Director: Laura Fletcher
The Bingham Ray New Talent Award (in association with Magnolia Pictures), presented by Kate O’ Toole
Winner: AnneMarie Naughton – The Canal
Galway Film Fleadh’s Pitching Award:
Winner: Cian McGarrigle for his pitch 12-Gauge Withdrawal