Irish distribution company Network Ireland Television are to sponsor the Tiernan MacBride Short Drama Award at this year’s Galway Film Fleadh, the winner of which is eligible to be considered for this year’s Oscar at the 2013 Academy Awards.
The sponsorship deal makes a natural fit for Network Ireland Television - one of the country’s leading distributors of Irish TV programmes and short films – given their long association with Oscar-winning shorts.
Over the past four years alone, the company headed up by managing director Derry O’Brien, has represented eight Oscar-nominated titles, including Northern Irish director Terry Georges’ 2012 Oscar-winner ‘The Shore’.
Speaking to IFTN, Derry O’Brien said: “When the opportunity to sponsor this highly coveted award arose, I was delighted to be able to associate my company with the Tiernan MacBride Award for the Best Short Drama.
“Tiernan, who was once a client of mine during my time with the Irish Trade Board, was known for the help that he generously offered to emerging talent in the Irish film industry.
“The fact that this is the first year that this award has been recognised by the Academy and that the winning film will automatically be eligible for Oscar consideration, is also judicious for NITV’s involvement, given our company’s most recent success in representing eight Oscar-nominated short films in the past four years, including Terry Georges’ 2012 Oscar-winning ‘The Shore’.
“I am optimistic that NITV’s sponsorship of this award will be of mutual benefit to both my company and the Galway Film Fleadh, this year and hopefully in the coming years.”
The winner of the Tiernan MacBride Short Drama Award will be announced at the Galway Film Fleadh on July 15 with 80 shorts set to be screened at the Fleadh with the majority competing for the prize. The award is named in honour of the late Tiernan MacBride, filmmaker and academic, who is fondly remembered as a staunch supporter of emerging filmmakers in Ireland.
The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences selects nominees for the annual short film Oscar from a list of festival winners around the world. Out of 7,000 film festivals worldwide only 68 have Oscar-qualifying accreditation. From this year, the Galway Film Fleadh has been accepted as a qualifying festival in the Academy Awards Short Film category.
Recipients of the James Horgan Award for Best Animation and the Tiernan MacBride Award for Best Short Drama will qualify for consideration in the Short Films Category of the Annual Academy Awards without the standard theatrical run, provided the film otherwise complies with the Academy rules.
Last year’s Tiernan MacBride prize was shared by director Tom Sullivan’s ‘Asal’ and Phil Harrison’s ‘Even Gods’.
