IFB funded films ‘Nothing Personal’ and ‘The Herd’ pick up Eight Awards at International Film Festivals this week
The IFB funded feature NOTHING PERSONAL and short THE HERD both picked up eight prizes between them at three international film festivals this week.NOTHING PERSONAL directed by Urszula Antoniak and starring Stephen Rea has picked up six awards at the Locarno International Film Festival.
The film which shot on location in Connemara last year and also stars Dutch actress Lotte Verbeek won the Leopard Award for Best First Feature, the Leopard Award for Best Actress (Verbeek), the First Prize Youth Jury Award, Ecumenical Jury Prize Special Mention, CICAE Prize and the FIPRESCI Prize at the festival over the weekend.
Nothing Personal tells the tale of Anne (Verbeek), a Dutch woman who hits the road to escape a personal grief. Hitching her way to the west coast of Ireland, she happens upon an isolated farm belonging to Martin (Rea). When he offers Anne work on the farm in exchange for food and shelter, she agrees on condition there will be no questions, no small talk between them. In time, despite their ardent desire not to be shackled by dependence on another person, they develop a unique relationship that awakens both of them to the real value of love.
The film was co-produced by Macdara Kelleher and Morgan Bushe for Fastnet Films (Ireland) with funding from the Irish Film Board and produced through Amsterdam-based Rinkel Film & TV in cooperation with VPRO and Family Affair Films.
The Locarno International Film Festival is held annually in the city of Locarno, Switzerland.
Meanwhile the short documentary THE HERD directed by Ken Wardrop also had success this week picking up the Prix UIP award at the Sarajevo Film Festival and the Best Short Documentary award at the Expression En Corto International Film Festival in Mexico.
The film, which previously won the Short Documentary Grand Jury Prize at this year's Seattle International Film Festival, is now entitled to be nominated for the short film category of this years European Film Academy (EFA) Awards after its Sarajevo win.
The Herd was produced by Andrew Freedman of Venom Films and received funding from the IFB through the Print Provision scheme. Wardrop and Freedman are the team behind the feature His & Hers which won the Audience Award at the Galway Film Fleadh last month.
The Sarajevo Film Festival which was founded in 1995 is the premier and largest film festival in the Balkans, and is one of the largest in Europe while the Expression En Corto International Film Festival is the largest international film and video competition in Mexico with the festival receiving over 2,000 entries from 84 countries this year alone.