With the IFTA Awards season well underway and less than three weeks to go until the ceremony on Sunday, May 24, IFTN takes a look at a talent-laden Sound Category, with at least one member of all nominated projects having picked up the golden statuette before.
Nominated projects include Ivan Kavanagh’s acclaimed horror film ‘The Canal’ (in cinemas May 8), Lenny Abrahamson’s highly regarded comedy-drama ‘Frank’, the HBO fantasy juggernaut ‘Game Of Thrones’ and Terry McMahon’s multi-award winning ‘Patrick’s Day’.
Nominated for ‘The Canal’ are Aza Hand (Sound Designer, Sound Re-recording Mixer), Daniel Crowley (Sound Mixer) and Patrick Drummond (Supervising Sound Editor).
With most Sound post-production work being labelled as “invisible art” and being largely uncommented on in reviews, ‘The Canal’ bucked the trend with publications such as Variety, The Hollywood Reporter and The New York Times all specifically hailing the sound team.
Aza Hand and Patrick Drummond are no strangers to IFTA glory with Hand picking up a 2012 IFTA for drama ‘The Writing in the Sky’ and Drummond picking up a 2007 IFTA for ‘Lassie’ (and two nominations for ‘Boy Eats Girl’ and ‘The Flight Before Christmas’). Daniel Crowley is a first time nominee whose previous credits include ‘The Hallow’, ‘Hunger’ and ‘Becoming Jane’.
Check out IFTN’s interview with some of the sound team of ‘The Canal’ here.
The impressive nine nominations of ‘Frank’ include one for Best Sound for Sound Re-Recording Mixer Ken Galvin, Sound Designer Steve Fanagan, Sound Mixer Neil O’ Sullivan and Supervising Sound Editor Niall Brady.
With ‘Frank’ being a musically driven film, the sound work obviously played a pivotal role in the film’s success both in Ireland, the UK and beyond.
Ken Galvin has previously won three IFTA Awards (‘The Silence’, ‘Kings’ and ‘Pure Mule’) out of five nominations (and is double-nominated this year with his work on ‘Patrick’s Day also being recognised) while Steve Fanagan has won two (‘Citadel’, ‘Albert Nobbs’) out of four nominations. Fanagan has also picked up a Primetime Emmy nomination for his work on ‘Game of Thrones’. Niall Brady also has two previous IFTA wins (‘Albert Nobbs’ and ‘Pure Mule’) out of a massive eight nominations.
Neil O Sullivan is the team’s only first time nominee but he has previously worked on the IFTA-winning ‘What Richard Did’, as well as the war film ‘Trapped’ and the comedy sketch programme ‘The Savage Eye’, both of which were IFTA nominated.
A behind the sound featurette on the sound team at work on 'Frank' can be seen here.
Production Sound Mixer Ronan Hill has won six major awards for his lauded work on ‘Game Of Thrones’, including two Cinema Audio Society Awards, two TEC Awards, an IFTA and a Primetime Emmy.
Hill also has an impressive IFTA pedigree which consists of three wins (‘Hunger’, ‘Kings’ and 'Game Of Thrones') out of seven nominations.
Terry McMahon’s ‘Patrick’s Day’ joins ‘Frank’ as the most nominated film at this year’s ceremony with nine – with the team of Sound Mixer Hugh Fox, Sound Designer/Editor Nikki Moss and Sound Re-Recording Mixer Ken Galvin (in his second nomination of this year) garnering a nod.
Hugh Fox has won an IFTA Award previously for his work on ‘Citadel’ while Nikki Moss has previously been nominated three times for ‘My Boy Jack’, ‘Showbands’ and ‘Short Order’.
Ken Galvin joins an elite list of double-nominees at this year’s ceremony which includes editor Emer Reynolds (‘One Million Dubliners’, ‘Patrick’s Day’), director and composer David Holmes (‘I Am Here’, ‘71’), actor Andrew Scott ('Pride', 'Sherlock: His Last Vow'), actress Charlie Murphy ('Love/Hate', 'The Village'), and writer/directors Gerard Barrett ('Glassland') and Terry McMahon ('Patrick's Day').
The IFTA Film and Drama Awards take place on Sunday, May 24 – check out the full list of nominees here.
