2015 IFTA Awards Special has combined reach of 329,000 on TV3.
The broadcast of the IFTA Awards Special this week had a combined reach of 329,000 when it aired on TV3 and TV3+1 on Monday, June 1.
Winners on the night included Sarah Greene, Deirdre O’Kane, Domhnall Gleeson, Lenny Abrahamson, Moe Dunford, Aiden Gillen, Charlie Murphy, Stephen Rea and Aisling Franciosi. Filmmaker Jim Sheridan was also honoured with a Lifetime Achievement Award which was presented by actor Sean Bean. ‘Love/Hate’ won the award for Best Drama while animated film ‘Song of the Sea’ won for Best Film.
Published on the IFTA website, here is some comments from nominees and winners about this year’s IFTA Film & Drama Awards.
Cartoon Saloon’s Tomm Moore, director and producer of Best Film winner ‘Song of the Sea’ said: “This year’s win for us is really something special, the fact that we were not only nominated for Best Script for ‘Song of the Sea’ and for Best Short Film for ‘The Legend of Phil from Accounting’ , but that we won an IFTA for Best Short Film for ‘Somewhere Down The Line’ and the Best Film IFTA for ‘Song of the Sea’ makes it a really amazing endorsement for us by our peers. I'm delighted to be working in an era where animated films are standing shoulder to shoulder with the fantastic live action films being made here.”
Speaking about the importance of the IFTA Awards on the film and drama calendar, Moore added: “I feel the IFTAs gives the Irish Film and Television community a chance to celebrate the achievements of the year and they also help generate fantastic exposure for the Irish Film and Television industry both at home and internationally. It's a rare moment that you can sit in a room with such diverse talents across mediums, genres and formats and it's a fantastic, fun event to boot.”
Moore’s sentiments were echoed by actor Tom Vaughan Lawlor, who was nominated on the night in the Lead Actor Drama category for his iconic role of Nidge in ‘Love/Hate’: “I think the IFTA awards is a vital event in raising public awareness of the work of Irish artists at home and abroad. It is also an important night for people in the industry to come together and not just honour excellence, but also to make connections for future projects.”
Terry McMahon’s film ‘Patrick’s Day’ was nominated for nine IFTA Awards in total last week, with Moe Dunford walking away with Best Actor, Hugh Fox/Nikki Moss/Ken Galvin winning for Best Sound and McMahon himself winning Best Script Film.
McMahon said: “We've been to award ceremonies all over the world with ‘Patrick’s Day’ including picking up the Grand Jury Prize at Woodstock in the company of multiple Oscar winning Hollywood talent yet nothing prepared us for the calibre of the night hosted by IFTA this year. Whatever problems existed last year were forgotten within five seconds of the greatest award show we have attended. A triumph on every level this year's IFTAs was a sublime testament to the future of Irish film and one of the most important cultural events of the year. Unmissable.”
The 2015 IFTA Awards was certainly an unforgettable night for Emer Reynolds. The editor was nominated twice – for ‘Patrick’s Day’ and ‘One Million Dubliners’ – winning for the latter project which meant Reynolds has now won a massive five IFTA Awards.
Speaking about the importance of the awards ceremony, Reynolds said: “The IFTA awards are increasingly important, especially in a small country such as ours, to give Irish talent an opportunity to both celebrate together the amazing achievements (in such a tough industry) of the past year, but also to support each other, nurture the nascent talent and give our films the oxygen of publicity to help them resonate in the public's imagination.”
All of the individual Award presentations are available to view on the IFTA YouTube channel which can be found here.
www.ifta.ie
