Irish Abroad: Room and Brooklyn win at 38th Mill Valley Film Festival

The 38th Mill Valley Film Festival (MVFF) concluded October on Sunday (October 18th) with the awarding of the Audience Awards. Lenny Abrahamson’s Irish/Canadian co-production Room won the big award of Overall Audience Favorite 2015, with fellow Irish film Brooklyn, from director John Crowley, picking up an Audience Favorite Gold Award in the World Cinema category.

The win for the Brie Larson and Jacob Tremblay starring Room marks the film’s fifth audience award of the autumnal festival season, adding to wins in Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary, and the Hamptons. Room is an Element Pictures and No Trace Camping production, in association with Telefilm Canada, Film4, and Bord Scannán na hÉireann/the Irish Film Board. It will be released in Irish cinemas on January 15th.

The Saoirse Ronan and Domhnall Gleeson starring Brooklyn also won in Vancouver. Brooklyn is an Irish/British co-production from Wildgaze Films, Finola Dwyer Productions, Parallel Films and Item 7, with co-finance from Bord Scannán na hÉireann/the Irish Film Board. It will be released in Irish cinemas on November 6th.

[quote title=”Mark Fishkin – Mill Valley Film Festival, Founder/Director”]This was an amazing 11 days for film lovers, music enthusiasts, and members of the industry. We are so proud to be a festival that filmmakers—both local and international—return to year after year to present their films to our sophisticated and influential Bay Area audiences, who love to see and nurture these new works.[/quote]

MVFF is an annual, non-competitive film festival presented by the California Film Institute, which has established an impressive track record for launching new films and the careers of new filmmakers and is well known for the quality of its programming. Last year the festival featured Terry McMahon’s Patrick’s Day, which was very well received by the festive audience. This year the three Irish films selected are being screened in conjunction with the San Francisco Irish film Festival.

Overall Audience Favorite 2015
Room Dir. Lenny Abrahamson

Audience Favorite, Gold Award – 2015 US Cinema
Spotlight Dir. Tom McCarthy
Audience Favorite, Silver Award – 2015 US Cinema
Truth Dir. James Vanderbilt
Audience Favorite, Gold Award – 2015 US Cinema Indie
A Light Beneath Their Feet Dir. Valerie Weiss
Audience Favorite, Silver Award – 2015 US Cinema Indie
The Automatic Hate Dir. Justin Lerner
Audience Favorite, Gold Award – 2015 World Cinema
Brooklyn Dir. John Crowley
Audience Favorite, Silver Award – 2015 World Cinema
Remember Dir. Atom Egoyan
Audience Favorite, Gold Award – 2015 World Cinema Indie
The Passion of Augustine Dir. Léa Pool
Audience Favorite, Silver Award – 2015 World Cinema Indie
Under the Same Sun Dir. Mitra Sen
Audience Favorite, Gold Award – 2015 Valley of the Docs
Surviving Skokie Dir. Eli Adler, Blair Gershkow
Audience Favorite, Silver Award – 2015 Valley of the Docs
An Act of Love Dir. Scott Sheppard
Audience Favorite, Special Mention – 2015 Valley of the Docs
A New Color: The Art of Being Edythe Boone Dir. Marlene Morris
Penny Dir. Elizabeth Sher
Audience Favorite, Gold Award – 2015 Children’s FilmFest
The Amazing Wiplala Dir. Tim Oliehoek
Audience Favorite, Silver Award – 2015 Children’s FilmFest
Shana: The Wolf’s Music Dir. Nino Jacusso
Audience Favorite, Gold Award – 2015 Mind the Gap: Women | Work | Film
Suffragette Dir. Sarah Gavron
Audience Favorite, Silver Award – 2015 Mind the Gap: Women | Work | Film
The Dressmaker Dir. Jocelyn Moorhouse
Audience Favorite, Doc Award – 2015 Mind the Gap: Women | Work | Film
Mavis! Dir. Jessica Edwards
Audience Favorite, Gold Award – 2015 Active Cinema
Code: Debugging the Gender Gap Dir. Robin Hauser Reynolds
Audience Favorite, Silver Award – 2015 Active Cinema
Dogtown Redemption Dir. Amir Soltani, Chihiro Wimbush
Audience Favorite, Silver Award – 2015 Animation
Anomalisa Dir. Charlie Kaufman