Kerry Film Festival Announces Winning Films

The 2010 Kerry Film Festival Award Winners are:
Children’s Audience Award, THE END IS NIGHT, James Cotter
Audience Award, CHRISTMAS SWIM, Keith Mannix
Best Animated Short, THE POLISH LANGUAGE, Alice Lyons & Orla McHardy
Best Documentary Short, IF THESE WALLS COULD TALK, Anna Rodgers
Best Irish Short, RUNNERS, Rob & Ronan Burke
Best International Short, DROP DEAD, Arne Toonen
Best Short Film / Best Director, PASSING, David Freyne

The Kerry Film Festival, which is celebrating eleven years of bringing film to Kerry, announced the winning films from the 2010 edition of the festival. Dave Fanning was MC at the Awards Ceremony, which took place at 2:00 pm in Siamsa Tire in Tralee on Saturday, November 6th.

The Award Ceremony was the culmination of a week of films at Kerry Film Festival, which began on Saturday, October 30th. The winning films were selected by Kerry Film Festival's adjudication panel which included Noel Pearson, Jane Seymour, Tomm Moore and James Marsh and by the audience at the festival.

The adjudicators and audience had the unenviable task of selecting the best films from the festival. Over five hundred and fifty films were submitted to the 2010 Kerry Film Festival, up significantly on the total number of films submitted in 2009 and more than double the number of films submitted in previous years. 92 short films screened in total at the 2010 Kerry Film Festival.

"This was the best selection of short films I've ever seen screened together, let alone had to adjudicate," said Noel Pearson. "It was very tough to choose a single winner."

The Best Animated Short Film, as adjudicated by Tomm Moore, was Alice Lyon's and Orla McHardy's THE POLISH LANGUAGE.

Tomm is one of Ireland’s leading filmmakers and he was Oscar nominated earlier this year for his debut feature, THE SECRET OF KELLS. Tomm was a guest at Kerry Film Festival in 2009 and, in a move that built on an ever-increasing collaboration with the Institute of Technology, Tralee, he delivered a guest lecture to more than 150 students in the I.T. These were joined by students from local secondary schools who wanted to learn a little more about animation from an Oscar nominated director!

Tomm chose THE POLISH LANGUAGE for, "Its always surprising, inventive and technically virtuoso use of a wide array of animation techniques that added a dimension of visual poetry to the written poem. It also expands our understanding of the Polish culture and its people's history as much as the language itself. It's a beautiful short and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did."

The Best International Film category was adjudicated by Jane Seymour. Jane is a multiple Emmy and Golden Globe winner, recipient of the Officer of the British Empire (OBE) in the year 2000, which was bestowed upon her by Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace. She has proven her talents in virtually all media, the Broadway stage, motion pictures and television while her love of art and colour has led to her great success as a painter in watercolours and oils and also as a designer.

The Best International Short, as chosen by Jane Seymour, was DROP DEAD and Jane had this to say about the film, "I chose DROP DEAD because it was original and perfectly fit the short story format. The characters, acting, directing and script were all excellent. It was unique and told its story with a refreshing sense of humour!"

The Best Documentary Short, which was selected by James Marsh, who won the Oscar for Best Documentary this year for the brilliant film MAN ON WIRE. James had this to say about the documentary short films, "All the films submitted were diverting and enjoyable. Special mention should go to two films. BYE BYE NOW was a charming, playful and poignant evocation of a bygone era and a much loved and sadly obsolete piece of street furniture. THE HERD was one of the shortest films on offer but it managed to quickly and sharply evoke the relationship between mother and son alongside the relationship of a confused deer with a herd of cows.

My favourite, however, and thus the winner, was IF THESE WALLS COULD TALK.

Of all the films submitted, this short film was the most inventive in its use of the documentary form and showed a real sense of cinema in its camera movement and compositions. It also maintained an intense and unsettling atmosphere. Its content was simple and powerful. We listened to the fragmented recollections of troubled minds as we beheld the crumbling ruins of an institution which, mercifully, belongs to a different era and a different way of thinking."

The next film to be honoured was Rob and Ronan Burke's RUNNERS which was selected as the Best Irish Narrative Short. The winning film was selected by Noel Pearson.

Noel has been a film and theatre producer in Europe and the US for more than 25 years. His theatre productions of DANCING AT LUGHNASA (1991–1992) and AN INSPECTOR CALLS (1993–1994) collectively won eight Tony Awards.

In 1989 Noel produced his first feature film, MY LEFT FOOT, starring Daniel Day-Lewis, Brenda Fricker and Ray McAnally, directed by Jim Sheridan. It was nominated for five Academy Awards, winning two Oscars ®. THE FIELD in 1990 was his next production, it was nominated for an Oscar and two Bafta Awards.

1998 saw Noel produce the film version of DANCING AT LUGHNASA and, more recently, in 2007 he produced HOW ABOUT YOU. He has also produced four successful documentaries. During this year and next, Noel intends to produce Sebastian Barry’s critically-acclaimed THE SECRET SCRIPTURES with a screenplay by Johnny Ferguson.

The Kerry Film Festival Audience also had its part to play at the Awards ceremony, with CHRISTMAS SWIM, by Keith Mannix, picking up the Audience Award. The Award came with a prize of 1,000 euro, sponsored by the John Moore foundation. There was also a Children's Audience Award which went to THE END IS NIGHT, by James Cotter.

The final prize of the evening and the most prestigious going to a short film was The Kerry Film Festival Best Short Film / Best Director Award and this was also adjudicated by Noel Pearson. It came with a cash prize of 500 euro and was kindly sponsored by Cork Film Centre.

The Kerry Film Festival Best Short Film / Best Director Award, as adjudicated by Noel Pearson went to David Freyne, PASSING. Noel had this to say about the winning film, "I think PASSING is a beautifully simple story, it's wonderfully shot and acted and, while it was difficult to decide, I think it's the best film in a very good collection. I wish David Freyne the very best of luck. In fact, I want to wish all of the directors the very best of luck. And, who knows, maybe one day soon we may work with one or two of them!"

The Maureen O' Hara Award, which acknowledges women that have demonstrated outstanding leadership in their respective fields in film, was presented to Juliette Binoche at the ceremony. The Award was made by Killarney Crystal.

All awards were presented at the Kerry Film Festival Awards Ceremony, which took place in Siamsa Tíre on Saturday, November 6th at 2:00 pm.

For more information on the Kerry Film Festival, please log onto www.kerryfilmfestival.com or call 066 712 9934.

Kerry Film Festival is supported through grant aid from The Arts Council, Kerry County Council, Failte Ireland and by the generous support of more that 70 small businesses in Kerry.