Irish short documentary ‘Home Turf’ has won an award at Italy’s Film Festival Della Lessinia in Verona.
The Irish Film Board funded short won the €1,000 prize sponsored by the Lessinia Regional Natural Park, which was awarded for the best naturalistic documentary at the festival.
Director Ross Whitaker’s film was funded under the IFB’s Reality Bites scheme and debuted at the Cork Film Festival last November. Since then it has been screened at several prestigious festivals including Krakow, Hot Docs in Toronto and the AFI Discovery Channel Silverdocs Festival in Washington DC.
The film observes turf cutters from Co Kerry as they cut and collect turf through the summer months and juxtaposes their efforts with machine-cutting that is happening nearby.
Speaking following the award, Whitaker said: “We are delighted that the film has been granted this award by the Lessinia Film Festival, particularly considering the strength of the films on show. We’re particularly happy that the award is especially dedicated to the relationship between man and nature, which is a central theme of our film.”
The Lessinia Film Festival is the only Italian cinematographic competition dedicated exclusively to short films, documentaries, and full length features about the life, history and traditions of the mountains.
