4 Irish Oscar Nominations

Its a good year for the Irish at this years Academy Awards

The Oscar results announced earlier included four nods to Irish talent.


Martin McDonagh was nominated in the category of Best Original Screenplay for his film ‘In Bruges’.

 

Redmond Morris was producer on ‘The Reader’ which is nominated for Best Motion Film of the year.

 

Nathan Crowley is nominated in the category of Best Production Design for his work on The Dark Knight.

 

Finally Irish short ‘New Boy’ directed by Steph Green and produced by Tamara Anghie has been nominated for an ACADEMY AWARD in the Best Live Action Short Film category.

NEW BOY is based on a short story by Roddy Doyle and captures the experience of being the new boy in an Irish school through the eyes of Joseph, a nine-year-old African boy. The film which was produced under the Short Cuts short film scheme financed by Bord Scannan na hÉireann/the Irish Film Board (IFB) and RTE, has picked up over 20 international awards including Best Narrative Short at the Tribeca Film Festival (USA), Best Short Film at the Rhode Island Film Festival (USA) and a Special Mention at the Generation Kplus Competition at the Berlin Film Festival last year.

 “Steph Green is one of the most gifted new Irish filmmakers we have supported recently.  The promise she shows with NEW BOY means she will be making her first feature film very soon. The continued international recognition Irish filmmakers are receiving is an indication of the wealth of talent the Irish film industry has to offer” said Simon Perry, Chief Executive, Bord Scannán na hÉireann/the Irish Film Board.

Commenting on the nomination, director Steph Green said ”We are humbled by the Academy’s recognition of our film and extremely grateful to Roddy Doyle for letting us use his short story to base our film on. An Academy Award® nomination is the highlight for what has been a very successful year for our film.”

 
On hearing of the nomination producer Tamara Anghie said “We are indebted to everyone who was involved in making the film and it is a testimony to the quality of crew that we have here in Ireland that our short film has been recognised at the highest levels of the international film industry.”

New Boy was selected from thousands of short films around the world and will compete against the French short Manon on the Asphalt, directed by Elizabeth Marre and Olivier Pont; the German short Spielzeugland (Toyland) directed by Jochen Alexander Freydank, the Swiss film Auf Der Strecke (On the Line) directed by Reto Caffi and The Pig. NEW BOY was produced as part of the Short Cuts scheme which aims to develop new Irish film talent and was co-funded by IFB and RTE.
 

Martin Cullen TD, Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism said: “It is wonderful news that the Irish Film Board’s investment in film is being received so positively internationally with today’s Oscar® nomination for New Boy.  I am also delighted that Martin McDonagh’s In Bruges has received a nomination for Best Original Screenplay and The Reader, on which Redmond Morris was a producer has also been nominated.”

 

The comedy film In Bruges is written and directed by Martin McDonagh and stars Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson in the lead roles. McDonagh previously won an Oscar® for Best Live Action Short Film with Six Shooter in 2006 which was produced in Ireland with funding from Bord Scannán na hÉireann/the Irish Film Board.

 

Redmond Morris was producer on many Irish films including The Wind That Shakes The Barley, The Butcher Boy and Michael Collins and was Executive Producer on the recently acclaimed Notes on a Scandal. He’s also nominated for a Best Film BAFTA for The Reader and was nominated for a Best Film European Film Award for The Butcher Boy.

Crowley began his career in Irish films such as The Tale of Sweetie Barrett starring Brendan Gleeson and Falling for a Dancer starring Liam Cunningham and Colin Farrell. He has since gone on to work on US features Insomnia, Veronica Guerin and Batman Begins.

The Irish were very well represented at the Academy Awards® last year with five Oscar nominations. The Irish film Once directed by John Carney won the Academy Award for Best Original Song, Daniel Day Lewis won the Oscar for Best Actor in There Will Be Blood, and other nominations included Irish actress Saoirse Ronan for Best Supporting Actress in Atonement, Irish cinematographer Seamus McGarvey who was also nominated for his work on Atonement and Peter J Devlin was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Achievement in Sound for his work on Transformers.