The Golden West, the latest short from the Oscar-winning directing duo Ross White and Tom Berkeley, has won the Best Short of the Festival award at this year’s Raindance Film Festival, an Oscar-qualifying award.
Oscar-winning directors Ross White and Tom Berkeley (An Irish Goodbye, Roy) have received the Best Short of the Festival award at the 31st Raindance Film Festival in London for their new short The Golden West. The Best Short award will qualify the directing duo’s latest film for the Academy Awards.
The Golden West is set in 1849, and follows two warring Irish sisters who, having fled the Great Famine, seek their fortunes in the gold rush. But with winter fast approaching and nothing to show for their efforts, their age-old feud soon threatens to become deadly.
The short stars Aoife Duffin (Moone Boy), Eileen Walsh (The Magdalene Sisters) and Sion Ifan (Hidden). The Golden West is produced by Jamie Tarr (Fly the Flag), alongside Berkeley and White under their production banner, Floodlight Pictures. David Clarke (Mattress Men), John Kelleher (September), Kevin McGrath (An Irish Goodbye), Stephen Pomeroy, David Power (The Guarantee), and Susan Simnett (Fadia's Tree) serve as executive producers, and Yves Dominicy (An Irish Goodbye) serves as associate producer.
Since 2021 the co-directors have made three shorts together: Roy, An Irish Goodbye, and The Golden West. In a recent interview with IFTN, director Ross White said the duo are currently “in the trenches writing” their first feature film.
“This might be my grandmother's superstition creeping in, but I'm always nervous to speak too soon in case the whole thing goes up in flames,” said White. “But what I can say is, like all of our work to date, it will be a grounded relationship drama spliced with a heaped spoonful of black comedy.”
The Golden West will continue its festival run at Aesthetica Short Film Festival later this month.
