The Secret of Kells and If I Should Fall Behind Pick Up Awards at Celtic Media Festival
The award-winning Irish feature animation The Secret of Kells and the short film If I Should Fall Behind, both picked up awards at the Celtic Media Festival in Newry, Co. Down over the weekend.
Following on its recent success at the British Animation Awards, The Secret of Kells which was directed by Tomm Moore, scooped the Best Animation while If I Should Fall Behind, written and directed by Morgan Bushe, won Best Short Drama.
The Oscar-nominated The Secret of Kells features the voice talent of Brendan Gleeson and Mick Lally, and tells the story of an orphan named Brendan who is set the task of completing the Book of Kells, calling him to a new life of creativity and imagination.
Produced by Cartoon Saloon, the animation has already scooped a variety of awards including the Jury and Audience Awards in Kecskemet in Hungary, the Audience Award in Annecy, and received a Special Mention at the Zagreb Animation Festival in Croatia. It was also nominated for Best Feature Animation at both the prestigious Annie Awards and the Academy Awards® this year.
The Secret of Kells was financed by the IFB, BAI, France 2 Cinema, Eurimages, Media programme, Canal+ Cine Cinema, Conseil General de la Charente, Piste Rouge, Flanders Audiovisual Fund, Centre du Cinéma et de l'Audiovisuel de la Communauté Française de Belgique et des Télédistributeurs Wallons, Promimage and Wallimage.
If I Should Fall Behind tells the story of John, a husband and father, who chooses to cast himself into a self imposed exile after the drowning of his daughter in Dublin's Grand Canal.
The short film was produced by Rory Dungan for Fastnet Films and Tilted Pictures, and previously screened at the Galway Film Fleadh where it was awarded Second Place for the Tiernan McBride Award as well as receiving an IFTA nomination for Best Short Film.
If I Should Fall Behind was funded by Filmbase and RTÉ and received Print Provision support from the IFB.
The Celtic Media Festival is an annual three-day celebration of broadcasting, film talent and excellence from Scotland, Ireland, Wales, Cornwall and Brittany. The festival took place in Newry Co. Down from 21st-23rd April.