GLASSLAND AND Patrick’s Day were declared the joint winners of the Best Irish Feature accolade during the Galway Film Fleadh awards ceremony which took place last night.
Glassland centres on a working-class Dublin man struggling with his alcoholic mother and his own quasi-criminal activities. Directed by Gerard Barrett, this powerful film featured outstanding performances from Jack Raynor, as the lead character John; Toni Collette as John’s mother, and young English actor Will Poulter.
Patrick’s Day, directed by Terry McMahon, is about a schizophrenic young man, his over protective mother, and Karen, the woman with whom he falls in love.
The Best Irish First Feature Award went to I Used To Live Here (director, Frank Berry ). The Best International First Feature went to Still (director, Simon Blake ). The Best International Feature was won by Obvious Child (director, Gillian Robespierre ).
African Pride, about the South African LGBT community’s struggle for rights, won the Best Human Rights Feature. The documentary was the directorial debut of RTÉ journalist Laura Fletcher.
“It means so much that African Pride was chosen,” Ms Fletcher said after the awards. “I think this really speaks to the strength of the stories shared by the activists represented in African Pride. This is their film.”
The Best Irish Feature Documentary was jointly won by Blood Fruit (director, Sinead O’Brien ) and One Million Dubliners (director, Aoife Kelleher ). The Best International Feature Documentary went to The Breach (director, Mark Titus ).
The Best First Short Drama Award was won by The Swim (director, Damien Dunne ). The Best Short Documentary Award was taken jointly by The Sisters (director, Ailish Sarah Flaherty ) and Inez – A Challenging Woman (directors, Eimhear O’Neill and Trevor Birney ). The Donal Gilligan Award for Best Cinematography in a Short Film went to Patrick Jordan for Volkswagen Joe.
The James Horgan Award for Best Animation went to Fresh Cut Grass (director, Robert Cullen ). The Tiernan McBride Award for Best Short Drama, in association with Network Ireland Television went to Rockmount (director, Dave Tynan ). The Best First Short Animation Award in association with Cartoon Saloon as A Girl’s Best Friend (director, Clare Carroll ). The Best Animation Sequence in a Short Film went to Vertical Horizons (director, Anita Gaughan ), while the Don Quijote Award for Animation in a Short Film was awarded to Deadly (director, Aidan McAteer )
The Galway Hooker awards went to the distinguished Irish actor Brenda Fricker and Brown Bag Films, best known for its animations.
The Bingham Ray New Talent Award went to AnneMarie Naughton, producer of The Canal. The winner of the Galway Film Fleadh’s Pitching Award was Cian McGarrigle for his 12-Gauge Withdrawal.
