Director Rory Bresnihan (The Martyr’s Crown, English, George) walked away victorious from the Samhlaíocht Kerry Film Festival awards ceremony as his film ‘The Man Inside’ won the Best Short Film award.
The festival awards ceremony, held in the Fels Point Hotel in Tralee on Saturday, November 7th saw ‘The Man Inside’ being honoured with the festival’s main prize, as judged by Actor Jeremy Irons (The Merchant of Venice, Dead Ringers). The film deals with the case of Lisandro whose key breaks in the lock one morning, trapping him in his tenth floor apartment. Lisandro first of all sees the fact that he may be late for work as his biggest problem but soon comes to realise the real extent of his predicament. The prize for the Best Short Film is €5,000.
The winning short film was chosen, as most of the winning films were, by the festival adjudicators actors Jeremy Irons, Michael Fassbender (Inglorious Bastards, Hunger), visual effects artist Simon Brown (Avatar, Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith) and author and critic James Christopher (Elizabeth Taylor: The Illustrated Biography) who was present for the awards ceremony who said of his task “This was the best edition of short films I've ever seen let alone had to judge, it was fiendishly tough to choose a single winner.”
The €500 Best Irish Short Film award was selected by Jeremy Irons and went to Conor Ferguson (Atlantic) for his film ‘The Wednesdays’ which looks at two pensioners who manage to re-ignite the love they'd almost forgotten about just as the law arrives, knocking at their door. Producer AnneMarie Naughton (Situations Vacant) collected the award on Conor's behalf and tells IFTN she was "delighted they showed the short again at the ceremony, which received a lot of laughs on the night. It seems to be a real crowd pleaser."
The Best Documentary Short award, which also carries a €500 prize, was judged by Michael Fassbender and was awarded to Tony Donoghue for his film A Film from My Parish - 6 Farms’ which was shot on location in North Tipperary and explores six stories by six farmers from one parish.
Michael said "'A Film from My Parish - 6 Farms' was brilliant. I liked the composition of the piece and the command of both computer and camera. I loved the exploration and seamless joining of colour and nature as well as the computer generated world. I was very impressed and found the film a very well structured and solid piece and left me wanting to see more.”
This year’s Best Animated Short Film was named as ‘Elephants’ from Sally Pearce (They Walk by Day) which looks at Kay Gray’s house which is invaded by elephants who use its grey walls as camouflage. The festival’s Best International Short award went to Susan Everett (Into The Woods) for her film ‘Mother Mine’ which tells the tale of a woman who is seeking a replacement mother following the death of her adoptive one.
The Audience Award on the night went to ‘Valley of Knockanure’ from Gerad Barrett which investigates the murder of three young men by British Forces in 1921 Ireland.
Finally, the Young Audience Award which is awarded following primary school screenings was won by Tomer Eshed’s animated short film ‘Our Wonderful Nature’ about the mating habits of the water shrew.
Writer and director Rebecca Miller (The Private Lives of Pippa Lee, Proof, The Ballad of Jack and Rose) was also presented with the Maureen O’Hara Award by James Christopher on the night.
Kerry Film Festival’s FÁS Supervisor Úna Curran tells IFTN the festival was a great success: “There was a great turnout, especially at the awards ceremony. Rebecca Miller was very gracious and pleased - she thanked her family having been presented with a one-off piece from Newbridge and said she was honoured to have been chosen. Dave Fanning, our MC for the night was absolutely brilliant, it felt like he had been working for us forever, the festival really went incredibly well.”
For more information about this year’s festival visit www.kerryfilmfestival.com
