Events sold-out. Among the guests directors Colm Bairéad and Declan Recks, actors Barry Ward, Lorcan Cranitch and Cillian Ó Gairbhí.
The 14th edition of the IRISH FILM FESTA ended on the 28th May during a year when Irish productions finally reaped well-deserved international acclaim..
👏 Theatre packed for «The Quiet Director» interview
Among the guests at the Casa del Cinema in Villa Borghese, one of the most acclaimed was undoubtedly the «quiet director» Colm Bairéad whose film An Cailín Ciúin / The Quiet Girl received an International-Feature-Film Oscar Nomination, great achievement, indeed, since it is the first ever Irish-language production to be nominated by the Academy , It also won seven IFTA Awards at home in Ireland.
🎬 A highly successful edition
During this year of international acclaim for Irish productions, the IFF presented a wealth of events featuring some of Ireland’s greatest actors. A large audience attended the opening interview with director Declan Recks, scriptwriter Eugene O’Brien, actors Lorcan Cranitch and Cillian Ó Gairbhí held to mark the screening of Tarrac, another Irish-language film. Producer Zlata Filipović and Barry Monahan, professor of Film & Screen Media at University College Cork, introduced, respectively, the documentaries How To Tell A Secret and The Ghost of Richard Harris.
Last but not least, actors Barry Ward (also starring in A Runner) and Maureen Beattie presented Claire Dix’s Sunlight.
Twenty years after its release, this year the Irish Classic chosen by the IFF for a celebratory screening was Joel Schumacher’s Veronica Guerin. Among the producers of the film was James Flynn, one of the most active in the Irish film industry, who passed away last February at the age of 57. Flynn was hosted during the first editions of the IRISH FILM FESTA, which intended to pay homage to him with this screening.
Though not competing, the IRISH FILM FESTA presented the animated short An Béal Bocht / The Poor Mouth as a tribute to director Tom Collins, who passed away last year.
SHORT FILM AWARDS: THE WINNERS
The shorts competing this year were adjudicated by a jury comprising Daniela Catelli (film critic, ComingSoon.it) and Barry Monahan (university professor of Film & Screen Media, UCC). This year, students from the Department of Foreign Languages, Literatures and Cultures RomaTre University chose the winners of the Student Jury Award.
🏆 The Radio by Laura Kavanagh
The IRISH FILM FESTA 2023 Short Film Award goes to The Radio by Laura Kavanagh (Live Action). Here is the motivation:
This film has been awarded this year’s IFF shorts award for its ability to narrate in a concise and effective manner the loneliness of an elderly widower, experiencing a crisis without the voices of the radio that accompany his days and the emotional bond between the man and his daughter, expressed with a concrete simplicity we feel we can call “magical”.
🏅 The Student Jury Awards: Candlelight by Scott Newton and A Runner by TJ O’Grady Peyton
The students jury awarded Candlelight by Scott Newton (Animation) «for its emotional impact, reached – despite the absence of dialogue – through a balanced combination of video editing, music and colour choices» and A Runner by TJ O’Grady Peyton (Live Action) «for the topics it addresses, for the values it conveys, for its remarkable acting performances, cinematography and production design».
GETTING READY FOR NEXT YEAR’S EDITION!
IRISH FILM FESTA director Susanna Pellis declares: «We close the 14th edition of the IRISH FILM FESTA with great satisfaction, having offered a full programme of films highly appreciated by the public, accompanied by directors, screenwriters and actors who gave life to a series of engaging, in-depth meetings. Now, with the wonderful awareness of having recovered, together with our original formula, the strong desire to plan future initiatives, we are happy to inform you that the IFF 2024 is already in the pipeline».
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Click here to view photos of the IRISH FILM FESTA 2023 interviews at Casa del Cinema. Photographers: Fabrizio Perilli and Emanuele Sanità.
IRISHFILMFESTA was created in 2007. Created and directed by Susanna Pellis, the festival is produced by the Archimedia Cultural Association and presented in collaboration with the Irish Film Institute, with the support of Culture Ireland and Screen Ireland, under the patronage of the Embassy of Ireland to Italy and with the contribution of Intesa Sanpaolo.