FOSCADH, THE Irish language feature film, inspired by Donal Ryan's The Thing About December, won Best Irish First Feature at last night’s Galway Film Fleadh 2021 Awards.
Foscadh was written and directed by Breathnach, who teaches scriptwriting and production on the MA (Cleachtas Gairmiúil sna Meáin ) and the BA (Cumarsáid agus Gaeilge ) programme at NUI’s Acadamh na hOllscolaíochta Gaeilge.
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The film was shot in Connemara and stars Dónal Ó Héalaí (Arracht ), Fionnuala Flaherty (Out of Innocence ) and Cillian Ó Gairbhí (Blood ). Former students of NUIG media courses, Eoin O’Kelly Smith and Daithí Ó Cinnéide, worked as trainee assistant directors on the film. It was produced by Paddy Hayes of Magamedia Teo.
And the winners are…
Apart from Foscadh, the other Fleadh award winners were psychological thriller Here Before (Best Irish Film ); Pure Grit (Best Irish Documentary ) about a young woman determined to become a champion in the world of Native American bareback horse racing; Ride the Wave (Inaugural Young Audience Award ); and EL PLANETA (Peripheral Visions Award ).
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A scene from Pure Grit.
Bingham Ray New Talent Award went to TJ O'Grady Peyton (Pure Grit ). The Pitching Award went to Giles Brody with his teen caper, Top Marks.
The winners in the short film categories were MAMA (Best international Doc Short ); Homebird (Best international Animation Short ); Leylak (Best international Fiction Short ); Bump (Best Debut Fiction Short ); Bardo (Best Debut Animation Short ); Faitíos (Donal Gilligan Award for Best Cinematography in a Short Film ); Saul & I (Tiernan McBride Award for Best Fiction Short ); Nothing to Declare (Best Short Documentary Award ); Memento Mori (James Horgan Award for Best Animation Short ); and Lakelands (Best Marketplace project ).
