This marks the first year the Broadcast Authority of Ireland has sponsored the category, which honours the best of Irish talent in the production of single documentaries in Ireland. The BAI is responsible for the regulation of broadcasting in Ireland, and provides and awards funding for programming across a range of projects for film and television annually through it's Sound & Vision Scheme.
A diverse range of Nominees have received funding from the BAI this year, including documentary series ‘Crumlin’ from Independent Pictures, ‘Big Week on the Farm’ which is nominated in the Live Event category and also from Independent Pictures.
Irish language series ‘Eipic’, which received €600,000 from the BAI in part of Sound and Vision 21 is nominated in no less than three categories; Director - Soap and Comedy, Irish Language and Children’s and Young People’s.
BAI played an integral part in bringing content engaging with the centenary celebrations to the small screen, with €1.3M of its total €5.1M funding allocated to 1916-themed projects as part of Sound and Vision in June 2015. These were ‘Rebellion’, ‘Life Before the Rising’ and ‘Trial of the Century’, all of which were broadcast to acclaim in Ireland.
€5.2M was allocated to 99 projects in January 2016 by the BAI, with €4.8M allocated to 27 television projects. These included the second season of ‘An Klondike’ from Abú Media, which received €450,000. ‘Can’t Cope, Won’t Cope’ from Deadpan Pictures which is currently airing to RTÉ 2 and stars Seána Kerslake received €350,000.
Michael O’ Keeffe, Chief Executive of the BAI:
“The BAI is pleased to sponsor the Single Documentary category in this year’s IFTA Television Awards. The Sound and Vision scheme has supported this category of programming over many years and we wish all the nominees the very best of luck. We would also like to extend many congratulations to Micheál Ó Meallaigh who is the recipient of the IFTA Outstanding Contribution award this year and has been responsible for so much of the excellent programmes broadcast on TG4 over the years, including many supported by Sound and Vision.”
About the Single Documentary Nominees
‘Children of the Revolution’ from Strike Films sees broadcaster Joe Duffy uncover the stories of the forty children killed during the Easter Rising. ‘I Am Immigrant’ from Motive Television and ‘I Am Traveller’ from Frontline Films are two of a three-part series exploring identity and Irishness, and have earned respective nominations.
Animo TV’s ‘Ireland's Great Wealth Divide’, presented by Economist David McWilliams, looks at the nature of wealth distribution in Ireland, focussing on the disparity between those who were most positively and negatively impacted by the recession.
‘The Story of Yes’ from Invisible Thread Films revisits the same sex marriage referendum on the first anniversary, from the point of view of the LGBT community.
Praxis Pictures received the IFTA at the 2015 Awards Ceremony for Gerry Gregg’s ‘Close to Evil’.
