An Cailín Ciúin Makes History at the Dublin Film Critics’ Circle
Posted: 16th December 2022
The Dublin Film Critics' Circle has announced yesterday evening its standout films of the year, honouring a wide range of Irish and international films. The circle was founded in 2006 and invites professional critics from the city to vote on the year's best.
An Cailín Ciúin once again made history by becoming the first domestic release to be named the best film of the year by the circle. Colm Bairéad also came in the top 10 of best directors of the year, while Kate McCullough's work was honoured in the Best Cinematography category. This comes in the middle of a particularly busy week for the film, as it prepares for a limited release in the US this Friday. The film premiered at the Berlinale film festival this year and continues to touch audiences and critics alike, receiving this week rave reviews from The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal. Our sincere congratulations to the team behind the film on their achievements this year.
We were also proud to see Screen Ireland supported projects named by the circle as some of the best of the year in their respective categories. Nothing Compares, Kathryn Ferguson's richly cinematic portrait of Sinéad O'Connor's rise to fame and her exile from the pop mainstream, came in second in the Best Documentary category, while Gavin Fitzgerald's Million Dollar Pigeons about the passionate and ferociously competitive international pigeon masters came in eighth place.
We are proud to see that all top 5 Irish films of the year as designated by the Circle are Screen Ireland funded films: Colm Bairéad's An Cailín Ciúin took the top spot, followed by Peter Murphy and Rachael Moriarty's Irish language reincarnation tale Róise & Frank, Kathryn Ferguson's Nothing Compares, Pat Collins' observational account of the process of creativity and collaboration The Dance and Antonia Campbell-Hughes' Donegal-set It Is In Us All. Huge congratulations to the creative teams behind the film.
Further Irish and international talent were honoured among the Circle's picks, with Martin McDonagh's The Banshees of Inisherin, Charlotte Wells' Aftersun, Brett Morgen's Moonage Daydream, Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert's Everything Everywhere All At Once and Joseph Kosinski's Top Gun: Maverick taking top spots. We would like to extend our sincere congratulations to all honoured films and thank them all for making 2022 an exceptional year for cinema, both in Ireland and abroad.
The full list of results can be found here.