Last Saturday, November 8th, saw Underground Cinema host an awards ceremony celebrating independent short film in the Royal Marin Hotel in Dun Laoghaire. Attendees enjoyed a lavish event, with a full meal being served before the best in Irish independent short filmmaking was celebrated as 14 awards were handed out.
Every month Underground Cinema screens an incredible selection of Irish and international short film in Dun Laoghaire, Co. Dublin, offering lesser known Irish and international filmmakers a chance to see their work come to life on the silver screen.
Big winner on the night was the Galway set rural drama Skunky Dog, which won Best Film for producer Paddy Slattery and director James Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald also picked up the Best Screenplay award for the film. Thomas Fitzgerald’s Cut Me Deep picked up two awards with Fitzgerald bestowed the honour of Best Director, and lead Rachel Pilkington winning Best Actress. Best Actor went to the prolific Tristan Heanue for his wonderful performance in Alec Moore’s In This Place.
Maurice O’Carroll’s beautiful Windows of Wonder, which has been a firm favourite on the festival scene, also picked up two awards, for O’Carroll as Best Editor and Elaine O’Carroll for Production Design. In the technical categories there were wins for Eamon Nolan as Best Cinematographer for his work on Suansceal, Jennifer O’Malley for Best Score for The Beauty of Ballybrack, and Caimin Agnew for his brilliant Location Sound on Alan Buckley’s Neighbour Watch.
Elsewhere Sean Murphy picked up the Best Newcomer award for his comedy The Stand Up, which he wrote, directed, and starred in, Danger Overhead Cables won Best Documentary, Stephen Brady’s Normal won Best Comedy, and The Truth of You directed by Darragh Murphy won Best Music Video. The award for Best International Film went to Inside Run, directed by Sam Callis.
Full List of Winners:
| Best Film | Skunky Dog |
| Best Director | Tommy Fitzgerald for Cut Me Deep |
| Best Actor | Tristan Heanue for In This Place |
| Best Actress | Rachel Pilkington for Cut Me Deep |
| Best Screenplay | James Fitzgerald for Skunky Dog |
| Best Editor | Maurice O’Carroll for Windows of Wonder |
| Best Cinematograher | Eamon Nolan for Suansceal |
| Best Location Sound | Caimin Agnew for Neighbourhood Watch |
| Best Score | Jennifer O’Malley for The Beauty of Ballybrack |
| Best International Film | Inside Run Directed by Sam Callis |
| Best Newcomer | Sean Murphy for The Stand Up |
| Best Comedy | Normal Directed by Stephen Brady |
| Best Music Video | The Truth of You Directed by Darragh Murphy |
| Best Documentary | Danger Overhead Cables Directed by Mia Mullarkey |
| Production Design | Elaine O’Carroll for Windows of Wonder |