20 November 2017
By Mary Bermingham
mary@TheCork.ie
The 62nd Cork Film Festival took place across 10 days from November 10th to 19th. This year’s Festival screened more than 200 films, including The Man Who Invented Christmas.
Irish short film Wave is in contention for an Oscar®, after being selected as the Grand Prix Irish Short winner at the Cork Film Festival 2017 Awards Ceremony this evening (November 19). The award was presented ahead of the sold out Closing Gala screening of Downsizing at The Everyman.
Benjamin Cleary and TJ O’Grady Peyton’s winning short will now go on the longlist for the 90th Academy Awards® in the Live Action Short Film category. The award was presented by RTÉ Supporting the Arts, principal media partner of the Cork Film Festival and given by Colm Crowley, RTÉ Cork.
Wave tells the story of Gasper Rubicon, who wakes from a coma speaking a fully formed but unrecognisable language. Cleary’s 2015 short, Stutterer won the Oscar® for Best Live Action Short at the 88th Academy Awards®.
The winner of the Grand Prix International Short Award, Mahdi Fleifel’s A Drowning Man (Denmark, Greece, UK), will also automatically qualify for the Academy Awards® longlist.
Speaking at the Awards Ceremony, Cork Film Festival Producer and CEO Fiona Clark said: “Wave is a very deserving winner, and is a worthy inclusion on the Academy Awards’® longlist. The quality of shorts within this year’s Festival programme has been exceptional, highlighting creativity and diversity in both subject matter and form.
“The Cork Film Festival has a long-standing commitment to presenting and promoting such talent, further demonstrated this year through 17 short film programmes. We are delighted that, for the first time, selected Irish shorts from this year’s programme will feature on the RTÉ Player following the Festival. In addition, both Irish and international shorts from the Festival will be made available to the public beyond the Festival though our online library, AVA, accessed in Cork City Library.”
The Shorts Jury, chaired by BAFTA nominated producer Farah Abushwesha, also selected Linda Curtin’s Everything Alive is in Movement, as the winner of the Best Cork Short, while Best Documentary Short went to Mia Mullarkey’s Mother & Baby, a documentary on survivors of the Tuam mother and baby home, which had its world premiere as part of the Bord Scannán na hÉireann/the Irish Film Board World Premiere Shorts programme.
Other prize winners announced at the closing ceremony included Untitled directed by Michael Glawogger and Monika Will, which won the Gradam Na Féile Do Scannáin Faisnéise / Award for Cinematic Documentary. The film was created two years after the sudden death of Michael Glawogger by editor Monika Willi who took footage produced during Michael’s filming in the Balkans, Italy, and Northwest and West Africa.
The Gradam Spiorad Na Féile / Spirit of The Festival Award, presented by The River Lee, principal accommodation partner, went to Rima Das’ Village Rockstars. It follows a young village girl in northeast India who wants to start her own rock band. An honourable mention went to Dafydd Flynn for his performance in Frank Berry’s Michael Inside.
The Cork Film Festival Nomination for the 2018 European Short Film Awards was Sebastian Lang’s Container.
The Audience Award, presented by The Gate Cinema, principal venue partner, was won by Frank Berry’s acclaimed Michael Inside, telling the story of an 18-year-old living in Dublin who is sentenced to three months in prison after he is caught hiding drugs for his friend’s older brother.
The Cork Film Festival Youth Jury Award went to Last Man in Aleppo, directed by Feras Fayyad. The film allows the viewers to experience the rescue work of Syrian volunteers, The White Helmets.
Ms Clark added: “This year audiences had an opportunity to see 115 features, 34 documentaries and 116 shorts. For the majority of the films shown, this was the only chance to see them on the big screen in Cork.
“We were delighted to present Doc Day presented in partnership with Bord Scannán na hÉireann/the Irish Film Board and supported by Broadcasting Authority of Ireland and Screen Training Ireland. Other highlights included Elaine Hoey’s The Ground Opened Up, presented in collaboration with the National Sculpture Factory, our Illuminate programme of films and discussions exploring mental health, presented in partnership with Arts +Minds / HSE, and a range of events in partnership with the Irish Film Institute.
“We are hugely appreciative to all our funders, sponsors, partners, patrons, friends, and industry colleagues who have ensured the success of the 62nd Cork Film Festival, and we are especially grateful to the large and loyal audiences who attended.”
Cork Film Festival is proudly supported by principal funder the Arts Council, along with Cork City Council and Arts Office, Bord Scannán na hÉireann/the Irish Film Board, Fáilte Ireland, the Broadcasting Authority Ireland, Screen Training Ireland, Culture Ireland and Creative Europe Media.
The Cork Film Festival will return for its 63rd edition in November 2018.
