Peacefire, Kisses win Galway; Kells goes to LA
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Macdara Vallely’s Peacefire won Best First Feature at the Galway Film Fleadh, while Israeli/French co-production The Lemon Tree, directed by Eran Riklis, won second place. Lance Daly’s Kisses was named Best Irish Feature while Bob Quinn’s Vox Humana was awarded second place. Sacha Gervasi’s Anvil!
The Story of Anvil won the first place in the Feature Documentary section and with Stephen Walker’s Young at Heart coming second.
Sean Branigan’s Martin won the Tiernan McBride Award for Best Irish Short while Juanita Wilson’s The Door won second place. Luke McManus’ Danger High Voltage won Best First Irish Short with second place going to Conor Clements’ James.
Meanwhile, director Tomm Moore’s animated feature The Secret of Kells will have a special screening at the Director’s Guild of America (DGA) Theatre, Los Angeles on 19th September after being named winner of the Screen Director’s Guild Ireland (SDGI) Directors Finders Series 2008.
The award, presented by the SDGI in association with the DGA, gives an Irish director the opportunity to present their feature to an audience of American distributors and industry personnel in order to secure a US distribution deal. Cartoon Saloon, France’s Les Armateurs and Belgium’s Vivi Film have produced the film with funding from the BCI, Irish Film Board, Celluloid Dreams, Canal Plus, Gebeka, FTD Video, Eurimages and RTE.
Last year’s winner of the Directors Finders Series was Tom Collin’s Kings, which secured a US distribution deal. The Irish Film Board, The DGA, The Arts Council, Culture Ireland and Screen Training Ireland support the Directors Finders Series award.
Naman Ramachandran