Irish Abroad: Mark Noonan’s You’re Ugly Too wins Best Screenplay in Athens

News from Greece where Irish writer/director Mark Noonan has won the award for Best Screenplay for his debut feature You’re Ugly Too (????) at the 21st Athens International Film Festival.

The film played in competition at the festival, which featured more than 180 films from around the world. It lost out on the Best Picture prize to Arab and Tarzan Nasser’s Dégradé. Awarding Best Screenplay to Noonan the jury praised the film for its “penetrating look at human relationships, and multidimensional characters, that maintained a balance between drama and comedy, through clever dialogue and a naturalistic style.”

This latest award follows on from the film winning the Screen Directors Guild Finders Series award, as well as Best Screenplay at the 12th Skip City International D-Cinema Festival in Japan, and Best First Feature at the Galway Film Fleadh.

You’re Ugly Too stars Aiden Gillan and Lauren Kinsella, and focuses on a man who is released from prison on compassionate leave to care of his niece, after the death of her mother.

You’re Ugly Too was produced by John Keville and Conor Barry for Savage Productions and was filmed in counties Dublin and Offaly. The film was funded by Bord Scannán na hÉireann/the Irish Film Board. It recently completed a successful cinematic run via Element Pictures Distribution, and will soon be released on DVD and VOD.