Irish feature film ‘Charlie Casanova’ has swept the board at the Melbourne Underground Film Festival picking up the awards for Best Film, Best Actor and Best Director.
The controversial film from director, producer and writer Terry McMahon was praised as “compelling, courageous and complex” by the MUFF jury who awarded McMahon the film and director prizes.
His lead actor, Emmett J Scanlan, took the acting prize and reacted with delight to his second international best actor award. He said: “This is why we make movies, this is why we starve to create. The level of controversy surrounding Charlie has been extraordinary. It stirs up a reaction, either negative or positive. But that's the point, you want to make people feel something, anything, but never nothing.
“If someone told me I'd have won best actor on two different continents, and be nominated for an IFTA this year, I would've said they were mad. I've had such an amazing year, it's been incredible. No matter what happens to this movie, it's my proudest work to date, and no one can take that comfort away from me.”
McMahon added: “It’s fascinating to experience such embrace from audiences and jury members for a film that was critically destroyed in its own country but I suppose that's the beauty of cinema - you really never know how anybody is going to react at any given time.”
‘Charlie Casanova’ had earlier been selected to open the MUFF festival. Complimenting the film, festival director Richard Wolstencroft said: “Charlie Casanova won this year at MUFF because it was simply the best film. It looks at pitch black subject matter with a beguiling guilty complicity that is compelling, courageous and complex.”
Nominated for an IFTA for Best Film earlier this year, ‘Charlie Casanova’ will be released on DVD on October 15.
Read an interview with Terry McMahon and Emmett J Scanlan here.
