Irish Film 'Colony' wins Prestigious Prize at Major International Documentary Festival IDFA
COLONY, the debut feature Irish documentary directed by Ross McDonnell and Carter Gunn has been named winner of the First Appearance Award at the International Documentary Film Festival in Amsterdam.
The documentary was shortlisted from a selection of 15 films screening in competition at the festival. The jury then selected COLONY over Garbo: The Spy (Spain) and Talhotblond (US) to win the title and the prize fund of €5,000.
COLONY examines the ominous disappearance of more than 1/3 of the United States' bee population in recent years and was one of seven Irish films to premiere at the Toronto Film Festival in September. It received critical acclaim at the festival with Variety saying it was "the most aesthetically beautiful documentary of the season, as well as one of the most urgent and intelligent".
Director Ross McDonnell who was flown back to the festival to accept this award said "Myself and Carter are delighted that Colony has received this award. The film is currently being sold internationally by E1 entertainment so this is a huge boost for the film."
Alan Maher, Productive Executive at Bord Scannán na hEireann/the Irish Film Board said "To be named the winner of the First Appearance Award at the largest documentary festival in the world from such an esteemed jury is a terrific achievement for the filmmakers. COLONY is a beautifully cinematic film and further underlines the world class talent working in the Irish film industry"
COLONY was produced by Morgan Bushe and Macdara Kelleher of Fastnet Films with funding from the Irish Film Board.
IDFA has become the world's largest and most versatile documentary film festival in the world, with a particular focus on creative documentaries. The festival supports documentaries that are interesting from a stylistic point of view, or are particularly innovative, relevant to social issues and successfully manage to communicate with their audiences.