Kerry Film Festival presents the Maureen O'Hara award to 2017 recipient Director and Editor Emer Reynolds at a ceremony in Dublin today. Here, Reynolds is gracious and generous to her colleagues and predecessors during her acceptance speech.
Kerry Film Festival presents the Maureen O'Hara award to 2017 recipient Director and Editor Emer Reynolds at a ceremony in Dublin today. Here, Reynolds is gracious and generous to her colleagues and predecessors during her acceptance speech.

#Festival: Kerry Film Festival presents 2017 Maureen O’Hara Award to director Emer Reynolds

Earlier this week the Kerry Film Festival presented the 2017 Maureen O’Hara Award to director Emer Reynolds (The Farthest), in celebration of her enormous contribution to the film industry and in admiration of her work, which continues to engage audiences and inspire fellow filmmakers. Scannain was lucky enough to attend the intimate ceremony.

The Kerry Film Festival inaugurated the Maureen O’Hara Award in 2008 to celebrate outstanding women in cinema. The award was named in honour of O’Hara, one of Hollywood’s best loved and most inspiring actresses.

Previous recipients include Irish actresses Brenda Fricker, Saoirse Ronan and Fionnuala Flanagan, Writer and Director Rebecca Miller, French actress Juliette Binoche, and renowned costume designer and Oscar® nominee Consolata Boyle. Most recently, the award was presented posthumously to Sarah Elizabeth Jones, a talented, committed camera operator who tragically lost her life on set.

In presenting the award, the festival acknowledges the wealth of female talent in all sectors of the film industry, women in front of and behind the camera, who shine through for their exceptional talent and commitment to their craft.

Kerry Film Festival Artistic Director Maeve McGrath presents the Maureen O'Hara award to 2017 recipient Director and Editor Emer Reynolds at a ceremony in Dublin today.  R-L are Producer Claire Stronge, Ailbhe Keagan (KFFest Board Member), Maeve McGrath, Emer Reynolds, Áine Moriarity (KFFest Board Member and CEO of IFTA), Declan McSteen (Programmer KFF).
Kerry Film Festival Artistic Director Maeve McGrath presents the Maureen O’Hara award to 2017 recipient Director and Editor Emer Reynolds at a ceremony in Dublin today. R-L are Producer Claire Stronge, Ailbhe Keagan (KFFest Board Member), Maeve McGrath, Emer Reynolds, Áine Moriarity (KFFest Board Member and CEO of IFTA), Declan McSteen (Programmer KFF).

Reynolds is an Emmy nominated multi-award-winning documentary director and feature film editor, based in Dublin, Ireland. Over the last two decades, her work has spanned feature films, TV Drama and documentary, including editing one of the most critically-acclaimed Irish feature films, I Went Down. Documentaries Emer has worked on include the multi award winning, twice Emmy nominated wildlife feature Broken Tail and the three-time Emmy nominated On a River in Ireland made for the BBC and PBS. Reynolds directed Here Was Cuba, a stunning feature documentary on the Cuban Missile Crisis, described by the Hollywood Reporter as “a real-life end-of-the-world-thriller” while her newest feature documentary, The Farthest is a visually stunning and heartfelt portrait of the Voyager Space Probe and the people who dedicated their lives to reaching out to the cosmos and looking outside of ourselves. One of the year’s best films, it continues to captivate audiences worldwide and will screen at the Kerry Film festival this October.

The Kerry Film Festival takes place in the picturesque town of Killarney, Co. Kerry in the south west of Ireland from the 19th to the 22nd of October 2017. Showcasing the best in Feature, Short and Documentary Cinema from at home and abroad, and introducing Discovery Features, a platform for first time feature film makers, the 18th Kerry Film Festival is shaping up to be one of the must-attend events on the Irish film calendar.

The Maureen O’Hara Award artist for 2017​ is Amy Smith, she is a ceramicist and pottery teacher living and working in Kerry. After spending time as an assistant to a local ceramicist she decided to start her own studio and school. Amy’s works vary from the classic to the idiosyncratic with an emphasis on the expressive use of colour. At her pottery school she teaches children and adults with a focus on creative and therapeutic potential of working in clay.

For tickets and more information see http://www.kerryfilmfestival.com/