IRISH COMEDY-CRIME film The Young Offenders and Irish LGBT drama Lily were among the winners at the 2016 Galway Film Fleadh's annual award ceremony which took place in the Town Hall Theatre last night.
The fleadh came to a close with the award ceremony, which also saw Love/Hate and Preacher actor Ruth Negga present film-maker Jim Sheridan with The Galway Hooker Award.
The award for Best Irish First Feature will be announced on Monday as the closing film, Sanctuary - which stars the actors of Galway's Blue Teapot Theatre Company, and scripted by Galway writer Christian O'Reilly - is on the shortlist for the award.
However the other awards for Irish films were announced. There were joint winners for the Best Irish Feature award - The Young Offenders, directed by Peter Foott, and A Date For Mad Mary. The Best Irish Feature Documentary went to It's Not Dark Yet, directed by Frankie Fenton, while second place went to Brendan J Byrne's Bobby Sands: 66 Days. The award for Best Cinematography In An Irish Feature went to Kate McCullough's It’s Not Yet Dark.
The Bingham Ray New Talent Award, to recognise "rising stars in the fields of producing, acting, and direction, went to actor Seana Kerslake, for her role in A Date for Mad Mary. The Galway Film Fleadh Pitching Award went to Janet Hayes for her proposed project Edges.
Since 2011 the fleadh has been recognised as a qualifying festival for the Oscars, with the James Horgan Award for Best Animation and Tiernan McBride Award for Best Short Drama winners qualifing for consideration. The James Horgan award went to Second To None, directed by Vincent Gallagher, while the Tiernan McBride Award for Best Short Drama went to LGBT drama Lily, directed by Graham Cantwell. The Donal Gilligan Award for Best Cinematography in a Short Film went to Daniel Katz for Wifey Redux.
The Best international First Feature award went to Moondogs, directed by Philip John while Best Internation Feature was won by Hunt For The Wilderpeople, directed by Taika Waititi. Best International Feature Documentary went to Maya Angelou: And Still I Rise, directed by Bob Hercules and Rita Coburn Whack. The Berst Human Rights Feature went to David Kinsella's The Wall.
In the animation category, the Don Quijote Award for Best Animated Short Film went to Second to None, directed by Vincent Gallagher; the Best First Short Animation went to Joining Dots, directed by Fiona Ryan; while the award for Best Animated Sequence in a Short Film went to The Lost Letter, directed by Kealan O’Rourke.
The awards for short films were as follows: Best First Short Drama was won by Groundless, directed by Eimear Callaghan; the Best short Documentary went to Séan Hillen, Merging Views, directed by Paddy Cahill; while the Award for the One Minute Film Festival, went to Something Borrowed by Carolyn Wagner.
