SAVIOURS Scoops Two Awards at MAMAs
Saviours, the debut IFB funded feature film by Ross Whitaker and Liam Nolan, won two awards today at the seventh annual Media and Multicultural Awards at a ceremony in the Abbey Theatre in Dublin.
The awards, which were established by multicultural newspaper Metro Éireann, aim to recognise people, groups, companies, institutions and media platforms that promote diversity and multiculturalism in Ireland.
Highly acclaimed documentary Saviours won first prize in Visual Media category. In addition, St Saviours Boxing Academy, the club at the centre of the documentary, was awarded a special bursary of €5,000 from the Iris O'Brien Foundation. This award was for an individual or organisation that has positively responded to cultural diversity in Ireland.
The prize follows on from awards at the Galway Film Fleadh and Waterford Film Festival. Saviours also recently won Best European Documentary at the International Film Festival of South Africa.
Liam Nolan picked up the award for Saviours and said afterwards, “It’s brilliant for the film to be recognised at these awards because we really felt that the film could say something positive about the benefits of a multicultural outlook. And we’re very happy that the club has received a very well-deserved award too - it’s nice to give something back.”
Ross Whitaker added, “We didn’t want the film to be overtly political but we still feel that it raises awareness about some issues related to race and we feel that the film can really make people think differently about these issues. We feel that this is a really important award and we’re delighted to have been won it.”