Bye, Bye Now Scoops Audience Award at Acclaimed Silverdocs Festival in U.S
The Irish short documentary Bye, Bye Now scooped the Audience Award at the AFI Silversdocs Festival which took place in Maryland in the U.S last week from 21st-27th June.
The touching documentary, which was co-directed and co-produced by Ross Whittaker (Saviours) and Aideen O'Sullivan, follows the planned removal of a number of phoneboxes from around the country, evoking fond memories in the lives of the rural Irish communities. In a loving tribute through a series of interviews and live footage, this charming film remembers how the phonebox has gone from the centre of Irish life to the verge of extinction with the advent of modern technology.
Bye, Bye Now has already proved to be a roaring success both at home and on the international festival circuit since its premiere at the Corona Cork Film Festival last year where it picked up the Audience Award for Best Irish Short Film. It has also won the Audience Award at the IFI Stranger than Fiction Festival in Dublin and has been officially selected for screenings at film festivals including Guth Gafa in Donegal, Vancouver, Athens, Krakow and the Palm Springs Shortfest in California last week.
The film was produced by True Films and was financed through Reality Bites, the IFB short documentary scheme.
It has been a busy and exiting year for Bye, Bye Now and winning this award is another great achievement as Silverdocs is an internationally renowned film festival that celebrates independent thinking and generates global media attention. It screened over 100 films from over 50 countries, with an estimated 25,000 viewers in attendance.