Irish film Aisha wins 2022 Audience Award at the 67th Cork Film Festival
Posted: 24th November 2022
Fís Éireann/Screen Ireland is delighted to congratulate Frank Berry, Sinead O'Loughlin and the creative teams behind Aisha and short film Lamb, which received the 2022 Audience Awards at the 67th Cork International Film Festival this year for Features and Shorts. The Screen Ireland-supported Aisha, which is written and directed by Frank Berry and stars Letitia Wright and Josh O'Connor, jointly won the Features Audience Award with Roald Dahl's Matilda the Musical
The 67th Cork International Film Festival (CIFF) wrapped up on Sunday evening, following the presentation of a packed 11-day world-class programme of film premieres and events from Thursday, 10th to Sunday, 20th November across Cork City. The programme showcased over 100 features, with over 90% enjoying their Irish premiere, alongside 110 Irish and international shorts, and a series of industry and special events. Frank Berry’s Aisha opened the 67th edition at the Cork Opera House.
Aisha charts the experiences of a young Nigerian woman (Letitia Wright) as she seeks asylum in Ireland. Caught in limbo for years in the Direct Provision system, Aisha develops an unlikely friendship with kind Conor Healy (Josh O’Connor), but their friendship soon looks in jeopardy as Aisha’s future in Ireland comes under threat. The film was released in Irish cinemas on November 17th.
Aisha is produced by Tristan Orpen Lynch, Aoife O’Sullivan, Donna Eperon and Sam Bisbee. The executive producers are Hallee Adelman, Ivy Herman, Jenifer Westphal, Joe Plummer, Lance Acord, Jackie Kelman Bisbee, Wendy Neu, William Byerley, George Rush, Alison Thompson and Mark Gooder. Rose Garnett is executive producer for BBC Film and Celine Haddad is executive producer for Screen Ireland.
Irish short film Lamb was selected for the Tribeca Film Festival early this year in the festival’s short film programme. Chosen out of a record-breaking 7,200 short film submissions, Lamb was supported by Screen Ireland as part of its Focus Shorts scheme for emerging filmmakers with bold and original voices. Written and directed by Sinead O’Loughlin, an ordinary day takes a sinister turn for a woman and her child when a stranger walks into their isolated rural home. The film is produced by Lara Hickey for Copper Alley Productions.
The Cork International Film Festival’s Industry Days on 17th and 18th November hosted discussions with guests from the Irish and international film industry, who shared invaluable insight into their experiences, and current trends in the sector. Included in the day-long schedules for First Take and Doc Day Live were a keynote speech by CIFF Patron, Lord David Puttnam; a session with filmmaker Prasanna Puwanarajah who discussed his film Ballywalter, which premiered at the Festival; a career interview with Frank Berry (Aisha, Michael Inside, I Used to Live Here); and ‘A Conversation With’ philanthropist, filmmaker and activist Abigail Disney, ahead of her new feature documentary The American Dream and Other Fairy Tales, which premiered that evening. Doc Day Online is available to watch online at corkfilmfest.org until 30th November.
CIFF Industry Days is hosted in partnership with Fís Éireann/Screen Ireland and supported by the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland.