With the IFTA Film & Drama Awards drawing ever closer (Sunday, May 24), we look at a very hotly contested Short Film category.
The nominees this year are ‘Boogaloo And Graham’ (directed by Michael Lennox), ‘I Am Here’ (directed by David Holmes), ‘Rockmount’ (directed by David Tynan) and ‘Skunky Dog’ (directed by James Fitzgerald).
The troubles-set comedy/drama ‘Boogaloo and Graham’, written by Ronan Blaney, directed by Michael Lennox and produced by Brian J Falconer of Out of Orbit Productions follows two young boys who discover the facts of life with the help of their pet chickens.
The film stars Charlene McKenna and Martin McCann and has charmed audiences around the world since premiering last year resulting in a BAFTA Award for Best Short Film, as well as an Oscar nomination for Best Live Action Short.
Check out our interview with director Michael Lennox earlier this year here.
Directed by David Holmes (who is also nominated for Best Original Score for ‘71’), written by Lisa Barros D'Sa and produced by Holmes and Chris Martin (of Canderblinks Film & Music), ‘I Am Here’ has received acclaim since premiering last year and stars Liam Cunningham (nominated for Best Supporting Actor Drama for ‘Game of Thrones’ this year) as a man who wakes to find himself stranded in a strange new world. As he struggles through its unfamiliar terrain, a landscape that at first seemed threatening begins to offer up unexpected glimpses of the familiar. Corey McKinley and David Wilmot also star.
Produced through the Irish Film Board’s Signatures scheme, ‘Rockmount’ is a comedy drama set in Cork in 1982. It follows a child called Roy (a fictional version of a young Roy Keane) a diminutive eleven year old, as he tries to make it onto the starting eleven of his football team, Rockmount. He’s up against it; he’s younger and smaller than the other lads but that doesn’t matter to Roy.
The short is written and directed by Dave Tynan and produced by Michael Donnelly V of Michael Donnelly V Media. Child actor Craig Keane Harrington plays the lead role of Roy in the film which has been well-reviewed since premiering at the Galway Film Fleadh last year, where it picked up the Tiernan McBride Award for Best Short Film.
‘Skunky Dog’ tells the story of a young alcoholic boy in a rural fishing town, who is confronted by the truth that he might never break his routine or leave the town. The film has so far won awards at the Clones Film Festival and the Underground Cinema Festival as well as garnering a nomination at the Royal Student Television Society Awards in London on June 5th.
The film is written and directed by James Fitzgerald, a graduate of IADT, and produced by Paddy Slattery and stars Ryan McParland, Lacy Moore, David McSavage and John Connors.
Check out our interview with ‘Skunky Dog’ writer/director James Fitzgerald here.
The IFTA Film & Drama Awards takes place on Sunday, May 24 with TV3 airing a one hour special on the ceremony on Monday, June 1st.
