30 May 2021
By Mary Bermingham
mary@TheCork.ie
‘Sister This’ Directed by Claire Byrne took home €5,000 for Best Irish Film and ‘A Sister’ Directed by Delphine Girard from Belgium swept the boards by taking home the most awards since the festival began in 2009: Best International Film, The Jack Gold Prize for Best Direction, Best Screenplay, Best Sound Design by Luis Trinques and Best Editing by Damien Keyeux.
The Fastnet Film Festival, which took place Online due to Covid 19 from the 26th to the 30th of May saw thousands of filmmakers from all over the world log on to the Festival’s Short Film Platform over the five days. Gerard Stembridge, the Master of Ceremonies at the Festival Awards was joined online by several of the illustrious judges, such as Bronagh Gallagher who announced the Best Comedy Winner, and David Puttnam who announced the €20,000 Puttnam Award winner to be Brian Dwyer for pitching his short script ‘Wireless’. The Premiere of the resultant film will be screened in Schull in May 2022.
Awards Show 2021 – Fastnet Film Festival.mov from FFF on Vimeo.
The Awards Presented on the night were:
WINNER OF THE PUTTNAM AWARD
Cash Prize of €20,000
Jury: Judy Bollinger, Kirsten Sheridan, Patsy Puttnam, Dominic Treadwell-Collins & Ian Power
Brian Dwyer for Wireless
BEST INTERNATIONAL FILM
Cash Prize of €5,000
Category Panel: Sue Howes, Sandy Lieberson & John Kelleher
A Sister Directed by Delphine Girard from Belgium
BEST IRISH FILM
Cash Prize of €5,000
Category Panel: Patsy Puttnam, Hilary Durman & Jeff Wright
Sister This Directed by Claire Byrne
BEST IRISH LANGUAGE FILM
Cash Prize of €2,000
Category Judge: Róisín Kelleher
An Gadhar Dubh |The Black Dog Directed by Pádraig Fagan
BEST IN CORK
Cash Prize of €1,000 – Sponsored by Cork County Council
Category Judge: Gerard Stembridge
4X4 Directed by Ayla Amano
BEST STUDENT OF MEDIA & FILM STUDIES
Cash Prize of €1,000
Category Judge: Donal Beecher
Clara’s Room Directed by Pippa Molony Ireland
BEST YOUNG FILMMAKER (U19)
Cash Prize of €500
Category Judge: Martin Levis
JOINT WINNERS
Horizons Directed by Seán Treacy, Ireland
L’Argomento! Directed by Reuben Harvey, Ireland
BEST DRAMA
Cash Prize of €500
Category Judge: Maureen Hughes
One | Uno Directed by Javier Marco Rico, Spain
BEST COMEDY
Cash Prize of €500
Category Judge: Bronagh Gallagher
All In Good Time Directed by Bonnie Dempsey
THE TONY BARRY PRIZE FOR BEST DOCUMENTARY
Cash Prize of €500
Category Panel: Paul Stekler & Pratap Rughani
JOINT WINNERS
Converted Directed by Suzie Keegan, Ireland
Welcome to a Bright White Limbo Directed by Cara Holmes, Ireland
BEST ARTHOUSE
Cash Prize of €500
Category Judge: Mike Ahern – Team DADDY
When We’re Gone Directed by James Skerritt, Ireland
BEST ANIMATION
Cash Prize of €500
Category Judge: Steve Baker
Her Song Directed by Éabha Bortolozzo & Jack Kirwan, Ireland
THE JACK GOLD PRIZE FOR BEST DIRECTION
Cash Prize of €500
Category Judge: Carmel Winters
JOINT WINNERS
A Sister Directed by Delphine Girard, Belgium
Detours Directed by Christopher Yates, Belgium
BEST SCREENPLAY
Cash Prize of €500
Category Judge: Gaby Smyth
A Sister Written by Delphine Girard, Belgium
BEST ORIGINAL MUSIC
Cash Prize of €500
Category Judge: Maurice Seezer
JOINT WINNERS
Boat Boy composed by Anthony Willis, Ireland
Pretty Bonnets Composed by Antoni M March UK
BEST SOUND DESIGN
Cash Prize of €500
Category Judge: Kieran Horgan
A Sister Sound Design by Luis Trinques, Belgium
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Cash Prize of €500
Category Judge: Chris O’Dell
JOINT WINNERS
Flora Cinematography by Michal Babinec, Spain
Sleepless/Repeat Until Death Cinematography by Nicholas Chin, Mongolia
BEST EDITING
Cash Prize of €500
Category Judge: Sam Connor
A Sister Edited by Damien Keyeux, Belgium
For the five-days of the festival this year, we went back to our roots, ‘FFF 2021 was all about the Short’. Following Saorise Ronan’s welcome address, 350 short films were made available to view on the Festival’s Short Film Platform. The innovative ‘In Short’ series of 24 bite-sized tutorials by a wide variety of industry professionals, advising on their particular field of expertise was very well received. These included Ed Guiney (Producing), Joan Bergin (Costume), Kate McCullough (Cinematography), Mike Ahern (Directing Comedy), Ros & John Hubbard (Casting), Mark O’Halloran (Scriptwriting), Ray Ball (Production Design), Ross Whitaker (Directing Documentary), Cara Holmes (Film Editing), Maurice Seezer (Music), Cian McElhone (Legal Issues) – and many more. Due to popular demand these Mini Tutorials will remain accessible on the FFF site for the foreseeable future. We felt it was time to give something back, so All Events Were Free to view. The prep now begins for the real deal in May 2022.
For further information please check out www.fastnetfilmfestival.
