Irish Festival: Winners announced at the 8th Waterford Film Festival

The Waterford Film Festival took place last weekend celebrating their 8th Annual event in the south-east city, at the Garter Lane Arts Centre. Closing out a successful festival director Stephen Byrne handed out a host of prizes a bunch of deserving winners.

The big winner was Mark Tehnsuko’s They Call Me the Kid, which picked up 1st Prize for Best short film. Xathe Z. Young’s The Bullet Catch was awarded the runners up position, with a Special Mention for Waterway, directed by Carrie Crowley. These three came from 36 entries, with Byrne highlighting the strength of this year’s programme saying “I was very happy with the great quality of work”.

Aside from the short film strand the festival also showcase two films, Conor Heffernan’s documentary Rainbow Chaser and James Fitzgerald’s multi-award-winning Skunky Dog, with Q&A sessions following the screenings, with filmmakers from both in attendance.

What marks the festival apart from other short film festivals around the country is the screenplay competition, which is now celebrating its 7th year. Each year the festival receives a ton of submissions for this competition, with the winners receiving a cash prize of €500 and 5 days film equipment hire and access to editing facilities from FILMLAB. This year that prize went to The Wake by Jonathan Hughes, with runner up to Cynic by Howard Jones.

15 scripts were eligible for the Screenplay Award, with the full list available on the WFF website.