IFB Funded Shorts Win at Corona Cork Film Festival
The 55th Corona Cork Film Festival saw wins for the IFB funded shorts Pentecost and Miss Remarkable & Her Career and a Special Mention for Crossing Salween.The National Jury presented the Signatures short PENTECOST directed by Peter McDonald with the Best Irish Short Film award for its impressive skill in mastering the notoriously difficult art of comedy.
The hilarious short, which premiered to a sold out Opera House on Saturday stars prominent acting talent Don Wycherley (My Brothers, Bachelors Walk) and Michael McElhatton (Perrier's Bounty, Happy Ever Afters). It follows eleven-year-old Damian who is called last minute to serve as an altar boy at an important mass in his local parish.
The Signatures short film CROSSING SALWEEN directed by Brian O'Malley received a Special Mention in the Best Irish Short Film category for its narrative ambition and flair. The beautiful film which was short entirely in Thailand tells the tale of a young girl making the journey through the Burmese jungle to the Salween River and the safety of Thailand beyond.
The Audience Award for Best International Short Film was awarded to the short animation Miss Remarkable & Her Career (Fröken Märkvärdig & Karriären). Written and directed by Joanna Rubin Dranger, the darkly comic film tells us about Miss Remarkable's struggle with her own demons, crushing parental expectations and a career meltdown. She fails to become 'strong, the best and happy' but finally realises what she really wants for herself - she wants life!
The film is a co-production between Galway-based company A Man & Ink in Ireland, Lisbet Gabrielsson Film AB in Sweden and Bullitt Film in Denmark and was co-financed by the IFB, Swedish Film Institute, Danish Film Institute and Nordisk Film & TV Fund.
The Signatures scheme is funded by the Irish Film Board and focuses on the making of live-action, fiction films that aim to encourage strong, original storytelling, visual flair and production values appropriate to the big screen.
To see a full list of the winners at the 55th Corona Cork Film Festival check out the festival website.