Terry McMahon’s ‘Patrick’s Day’ and Gerard Barrett’s ‘Glassland’ have jointly won the Best Irish Feature at the 26th 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’).
Oscar-winning Irish actress Brenda Fricker (‘My Left Foot’) and award-winning Irish animation powerhouse Brown Bag Films were the recipients of this year’s Galway Hooker awards, the festival’s lifetime achievement honour.
The highly coveted Best Irish Feature award was shared between ‘Pilgrim Hill’ director Gerard Barrett’s latest offering ‘Glassland,’ starring Jack Reynor, Toni Collette and Will Poulter, and ‘Patrick’s Day’ from director Terry McMahon (‘Charlie Casanova’). Stephen Bradley’s ‘Noble’ starring Deirdre O’Kane was awarded second place.
Best Irish Feature Documentary also saw joint winners with Sinead O’Brien’s ‘Blood Fruit’ and Aoife Kelleher’s ‘One Million Dubliners’ both awarded the prize, while the Best Human Rights Feature was awarded to Laura Fletcher for her documentary ‘African Pride.’
Since 2011 the Fleadh has been recognised as a qualifying festival for the Academy Awards Short Film Category. Recipients of the James Horgan Award for Best Animation and Tiernan MacBride Award for Best Short Drama will qualify for consideration. This year’s winners were ‘Fresh Cut Grass’ (director Robert Cullen) and ‘Rockmount’ (director Dave Tynan), respectively.
Irish producer AnneMarie Naughton was presented this year’s Bingham Ray New Talent Award for her work on Ivan Kavanagh’s psychological horror ‘The Canal.’ Cian McGarrigle took away the Galway Film Fleadh’s Pitching Award for ’12-Gauge Withdrawal.’
A full list of Awards winners as follows:
The James Horgan Award For Best Animation
Special Mention: ‘Marrying the Sea’; dir: Sarah Walsh
Winner: ‘Fresh Cut Grass’; dir: Robert Cullen
The Tiernan Mcbride Award For Best Short Drama
Special Mention: ‘Boogaloo & Graham’; dir: Michael Lennox
Winner: ‘Rockmount’; dir: Dave Tynan
The Donal Gilligan Award For Best Cinematography In A Short Film
Special Mention: ‘The Swing’; DOP: Eamonn Nolan
Winner: DOP Patrick Jordan for ‘Volkswagen Joe’
The Best First Short Animation Award
Special Mention: ‘Forgot’; dir: Stephen McNally
Winner: ‘A Girl’s Best Friend’; dir: Clare Carroll
The Best First Short Drama Award
Special Mention: ‘Luke’; dir: Conor Hamil
Winner: ‘The Swing’; dir: Damien Dunne
The Best Short Documentary Award
‘The Sisters’; dir: Ailish Sarah Flaherty Inez
‘A Challenging Woman’; dirs: Eimhear O’Neill, Trevor Birney
Best Animation Sequence In A Short Film
Special Mention: ‘Somewhere Down the Line’; dir: Julien Regnard
Winner: ‘Vertical Horizons’; dir: Anita Gaughan
The Don Quijote Award For Animation In A Short Film
Special Mention: ‘Shoot’; dir: Rory Conroy
Winner: ‘Deadly’; dir: Aidan McAteer
Best Irish First Feature
‘I Used To Live Here’; dir: Frank Berry
Best International First Feature
‘Still’; dir: Simon Blake
Best Irish Feature
‘Glassland’; dir: Gerard Barrett
‘Patrick’s Day’; dir: Terry McMahon
Best International Feature
‘Obvious Child’; dir: Gillian Robespierre
Best Irish Feature Documentary
‘Blood Fruit’; dir: Sinead O Brien
‘One Million Dubliners’; dir: Aoife Kelleher
Best International Feature Documentary
‘The Breach’; dir: Mark Titus
Best Human Rights Feature
‘African Pride’; dir: Laura Fletcher
The Bingham Ray New Talent Award
AnneMarie Naughton, producer, ‘The Canal
Galway Film Fleadh’s Pitching Award
Cian McGarrigle – ’12-Gauge Withdrawal’