Critics Praise New Irish Feature Films as Six New Films Premiere at the Galway Film Fleadh
HIS & HERS Wins Best Irish Feature Film Award
Six new IFB funded Irish feature films premiered at the 21st Galway Film Fleadh this year which finished up last weekend with many IFB titles taking home major prizes.
These new Irish feature films have been receiving critical praise from the Irish press since their premieres with the press paying compliments in particular to the debut feature films HIS & HERS directed by Ken Wardrop, SAVAGE directed by Brendan Muldowney and ONE HUNDRED MORNINGS directed by Conor Horgan as well as John Carney's new comedy ZONAD.
Ken Wardrop's debut feature documentary HIS & HERS explores the age-old love affair between men and women through the collective voice of 70 ladies - ranging from seven to ninety years of age. Critics describe the film as "touching and exquisitely made and never short of charm" and say that Wardrop has "a quiet gift for observation; a sincere empathy for unglamorous lives and an inclination towards elegant compositions". HIS & HERS won the much coveted Best Irish Feature Film award at the festival.
The dark thriller SAVAGE is a study of the impact a violent assault has on a young man in inner-city Dublin and traces his metamorphosis from victim to avenger. The Irish Times comments that "by utilizing a brilliantly insidious sound design, Savage does a very good job of providing visual and aural correlatives for the protagonist's fractured psyche" and believes that the director Muldowney reveals a "distinctive directorial voice that should launch him towards a long and successful career."
The Irish Times went on to describe Conor Horgan's debut feature film ONE HUNDRED MORNINGS, which was produced under the Catalyst Project low budget production scheme, as the "finest domestic feature" at the Fleadh while John Carney's ZONAD was described as "consistently deranged, and always very funny".
Variety critics also billed ZONAD as a potential cult hit in their latest review. ZONAD is directed by John Carney, the award winning director of Once and stars Simon Delaney (Bachelor's Walk)in the lead role. In this comedic tale the arrival of an escaped convict in a small Irish town coincides with a rare comet sighting. As a result, the gullible local community hail him as an alien from another galaxy.
Two other Irish films to premiere at the festival were SWANSONG - STORY OF OCCI BYRNE written and directed by Conor McDermottroe which won the runner up prize for Best Irish Feature and THE RACE, directed by André Nebe and written by Rowan O'Neill is a coming of age story starring Colm Meaney.
IFB short films which picked up prizes at the festival included the short film THE POLISH LANGUAGE which won the Best Animation Award. Written and directed by Alice Lyons and co-directed by Orla McHardy it is a film-poem about the subversive power of art and the renewal of poetry in the whispery language of Polish. OLD FANGS written and directed by Adrien Merigeau received an Honourable mention in this category.
The Best Short Drama award went to THE MAN INSIDE written and directed by Rory Bresnihan. The short film recently won the Best Live Action Short Under 15 Minutes Award, 2nd place at the renowned Palm Springs International Film Festival. Meanwhile the musical DENTAL BREAKDOWN directed by Ian Power received an Honourable mention.