Irish Doc COLONY Swarms to the Top at Anaheim Festival in U.S
Colony, the debut feature documentary co-directed by Ross McDonnell and Carter Gunn, bagged the Best Feature award at the Anaheim International Film Festival (AIFF) which took place in Orange County, California from the 13th- 17th October.
A startling study of Colony Collapse Disorder and the die-off of the American Honey Bee population, Colony presents a crisis of global significance. In 2006, the lion's share of domestic honeybees simply disappeared. What makes this event all the more startling is the fact that scientists have yet to pinpoint the cause.
Not content to simply tell their story on the macro level, directors Gunn and McDonnell interweave world changing events with the lives of the people immediately effected by the crisis: the beekeeping families forced to scratch out a living as their livelihood disappears before their eyes in this fast paced environmental thriller.
Colony has been widely lauded on the international festival circuit since it premiered at the renowned Toronto Film Festival last year. It has since gone on to win the First Appearance Award at the Amsterdam International Documentary Film Festival and has been officially selected for screening at multiple festivals including the Doc Aviv Festival in Israel, the Warsaw Film Festival, Poland, the Green Film Fest in Seoul, South Korea, the Kiev Film Festival in Ukraine, the Cinemabiente Environmental Film Festival, Italy, the Rodos Film Festival, Greece, the Sydney Film Festival, the Sarajevo Film Festival, Bosnia and the Lemesos Documentary Film Festival in Cyprus.
Produced by Macdara Kelleher and Morgan Bushe for Fastnet Films, the documentary was funded by the IFB/BSÉ.
AIFF aims to create an environment that inspires, nurtures and showcases the work of emerging independent film talent while paying tribute to accomplished film artists in the international, national and local film communities. For five spectacular days and nights, the AIFF screened over 100 of the latest and best contemporary narrative feature films, documentaries, live action and animated shorts and student films from all across America and around the globe.