The Awards which honour television documentaries addressing national or international topics of social justice, history, morality and faith took place today at Talbot Stillorgan Hotel in Dublin.
The Radharc Awards encourage quality documentary production in Ireland and honour the memory of Fr. Joe Dunn and Radharc's achievements in religious affairs programmes for Irish television from 1962 to 1997.
The awards were established in 2002 and take place every two years.
Producers of the best documentary which has screened on television in the past two years and best short documentary for new media were presented with a bronze Radharc trophy.
The European Ombudsman Emily O'Reilly gave the keynote address at the lunchtime event.
Category One An award for television documentaries
The First place for television documentaries went to the Documentary
Brazil's Black Genocide (from 'What in the World?' Series 11)
by Peadar King, of KMF Productions Ltd, from Cork.
Summary- With tears rolling down his cheeks, Amaro Jose de Silva tells us of the death of his son, killed by police. Zilda Maria de Paula refuses to cry - in public at least. It's her act of defiance. It's an effort though as she recounts how the police sprayed gunshots in a bar where her only son was drinking killing ten people. Ten people killed. In a bar. By the police. Without provocation.
The Highly Commended Award was for the documentary:
Biafra - Misean Dearmadta
by Brendan Culleton of akajava films.
Summary - A new documentary shows that Irish missionaries were thrown out of Nigeria 50 years ago because they exposed British complicity in the deaths of civilians during the Nigerian Civil War. Accounts of surviving missionaries and newly discovered archive film sheds new light on the story.
The Commended Award was won by the Documentary
This is Palestine
by Gerry McColgan of Tyrone Productions/Trócaire from Dublin.
Summary - This Is Palestine is a new documentary that follows Riverdance founder John McColgan on a journey through Gaza and the West Bank. The film features powerful interviews with people who have lost their homes, land or family members as a result of the ongoing conflict, as well as inspiring footage of the Israeli and Palestinian activists working together for a just peace.
Category Two
An award for documentaries produced for digital Media
The winner was the Documentary
Syria - The Impossible Revolution
By Ronan Tynan & Anne Daly of Esperanza Productions from Dublin.
Summary - Syria - The Impossible Revolution, the first feature length documentary to attempt to unravel and trace the historical roots of the 2011 Syrians peaceful revolution and the very violent response that it received. A brutal response that is still reverberating with over five hundred thousand Syrians dead, half the population forced to flee their homes and almost six million refugees outside the country, many with no chance of returning home.
The 'Highly commended' Award was won by the documentary:
Martin Family Vignettes
by Order of Carmelites of Kairos Communications Digital Platform - Vimeo & Carmelite Web Sites
Summary - St Therese of Liseux was born, Therese Martin and in 2015 her parents, Louis and Zelie were also canonised, the first married couple to be sainted. The 'Martin Family Vignettes' are a series of short reflections on this family of saints, drawing parallels with the lived experience of Irish families and the Christian calling to strive towards sainthood, however out of reach or unlikely it may seem.
Attendees at the event included Peter Dunn (Radharc Trust), Michael O’Keeffe (BAI), Cathal Goan (former DG RTÉ), Roger Childs (RTÉ), Kasandra O'Connell (Head of Archive, Irish Film Institute) and Brid Dooley (Head of Archives, RTÉ).