Irish Film: Glassland and Patrick's Day amongst winners @ Galway Film Fleadh

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 CanalActor 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 MentionThe Swing

Winner: Patrick Jordan – Volkswagen Joe

 

The Best First Short Animation Award (in Association with Cartoon Saloon), Presented by Kate O’Toole

Special MentionForgot

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 PlaceRhymes for Young Girls

Director: Jeff Barnaby

Producer : John Christou, Aisling Chin-Yee

WinnerStill

Director and Producer: Simon Blake

 

Best Irish Feature (in association with VOLTA),  presented by Gale Wilson 

Second PlaceNoble

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 PlaceA 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

WinnerThe 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