Terry McMahon in Cannes
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Irish co-writers Brian O’Malley and Terry McMahon have won the prestigious Hartley-Merrill International Screenwriting Prize at the Cannes Film Festival for their screenplay ‘Sisk’.
‘Sisk’ was the winner of the Irish Film Institute’s fourth annual Tiernan MacBride
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Screenwriting Award, as part of the IFI’s prize, the winner goes on to compete
in the Hartley-Merrill International Screenwriting Competition.
The Hartley-Merrill International Screenwriting Prize was founded by RKO Pictures chairman Ted Hartley and his wife (and RKO vice-chair), actress Dina Merrill in conjunction with the Writers Guild of America, Robert Redford, Nikita Mikhalkov and David Puttnam, among others. The prize is designed to help screenwriters outside the United States learn how to refine their scripts "American-style."
Awarding the prize to Terry McMahon, Ted Hartley, described the screenplay as "a skillfully written piece about the Chinese Mafia in Dublin; this is the first time an Irish screenplay was won this prestigious award", and "hoped that he would see the finished film in cinemas around the world soon."
In his acceptance speech McMahon said, "This is an extraordinary privilege I am extremely indebted to these people. This is everything good about the American dream."
The Hartley-Merrill award carries a $10,000 cash prize and the writers will be honoured at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in Los Angeles on 23rd June. This is not the first time an Irish writer has picked up the prize as in 2001 John Deery won the award with his script for ‘Conspiracy of Silence’.
For more information about the Tiernan MacBride Screenwriting Award visit www.irishfilm.ie.