Among the big winners at last Sunday’s 84th Annual Academy Awards was Belfast-born director Terry George, whose short film ‘The Shore‘ won for Best Live Action Short Film.

George has previously been nominated twice at the Academy Awards, once in 1994 for Best Adapted Screenplay for ‘In The Name of the Father‘, and again in 2005 for Best Original Screenplay for ‘Hotel Rwanda‘. His win for The Shore, however, represents the culmination in a long labour of love which sought to depict Northern Ireland in a brand new light to the world.

The Shore stars Ciarán Hinds, Conleth Hill, Maggy Cronin and Kerry Condon, and centres around a man (played by Hinds) who returns to Northern Ireland after a long absence with his daughter (played by Condon) and forges a reconciliation with an old friend and an old lover (played by Hill and Cronin, respectively). The theme of reconciliation is an important one for George, who served as both writer and director on the project, with him stating in his acceptance speech:

Our little film was inspired by the people of Northern Ireland, Protestant and Catholic, who, after 30 years of war, sat down, negotiated a peace, and proved to the world that the Irish are great talkers. I want to dedicate this to them.

George accepted the award with his co-producer – and daughter – Oorlagh, showing how much this film was a family affair. George shot the majority of The Shore in Killough, a small town in County Down, Northern Ireland, where many of the George family still reside and where George will be making a triumphant return later this week.

The film’s Academy Award success could not have been predicted when it made its initial premiere last April at the Belfast Film Festival, however, since then it has gone on to secure both an international distribution deal and cinema run, a television airing in the UK, and has even been made available for purchase on iTunes for just £1.49.

The success of the film will potentially result in a boom in tourism, but the main hope is that it will lead to an increase in activity for Northern Ireland’s film and television industry. Already this year, American cable dramas Game of Thrones and Sons of Anarchy have shot on location in the country, while the BBC’s upcoming crime drama The Fall, starring Gillian Anderson, has been confirmed to be shooting a significant part of its five-episode order in Belfast in the coming weeks.

All of this would have deemed unimaginable just a decade or so ago, when Northern Ireland was still in the throes of The Troubles. Yet, political advancements in the peace process and George’s own admitted fatigue with the ‘Hollywood’ way of making films all led to The Shore being made possible, and to a potential revision to the outside view of 21st century life in Northern Ireland.

Image Courtesy of   http://theshorefilm.com/

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The full list of nominees for the 2012 Irish Film and Television Awards have been announced, with old favourites and emerging talents comprising this year’s selected actors, writers and other creative talents.

The 9th Annual Irish Film and Television Awards (IFTA), sponsored by Irish Film Board and RTÉ, will take place on Saturday February 11 at the Convention Centre in Dublin and will bring together the best in film and television that Ireland has to offer, as well as numerous international stars who will be competing in a handful of categories dedicated exclusively to honouring those from other countries around the globe.

Two-time IFTA winner Ciarán Hinds is back in competition thanks to his strong performances in ‘Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy’, which has already received multiple recognitions from other award bodies, and ‘The Debt’ in which he co-starred with Dame Helen Mirren. Hinds has been nominated in the fields of Best Actor in a Lead Role and Best Actor in a Supporting Role, respectively.

Brendan Gleeson is another Irish actor who has received double-recognition from the IFTA voters this year, as his roles in ‘The Guard’ and ‘Albert Nobbs’ earn him lead and supporting nominations as well, respectively. ’Albert Nobbs’ leads the field alongside ‘The Guard’ with each film receiving nine nominations apiece.

Gleeson’s co-stars in ‘Albert Nobbs’, Maria Doyle Kennedy and Brenda Fricker, are both nominated in the category of Best Actress in a Supporting Role, while the film itself has received acknowledgement in the Best Film, Best Script, Best Make-up & Hair, Best Original Score and Best Sound categories. American actress Glenn Close rounds off the film’s successful IFTA reception as she earned a spot in the Best International Actress.

Aine Moriarty, CEO of the Academy, released the following statement regarding this year’s festivities:

“The Irish Film & Television Awards is Ireland’s showcase to the world of what our small but outstanding film and television community has to offer: excellent and challenging feature films and dramas; entertaining television and engaging factual content. The Irish industry consistently delivers world-class standards of work that is watched by a global audience.

Ireland’s economic struggles have been well documented, but against this pressure it’s heartening to see how Ireland’s hard-working creative community continues to punch above its weight and really deliver.”

The Academy’s shortlist for the Best Film category would appear to be reflective of their endeavour to ‘showcase’ the best in Ireland’s original content, with the four nominated titles covering such topics as cross-dressing (‘Albert Nobbs’) and sociopaths (‘Charlie Casanova’), while delving into black comedy (‘The Guard’) and questions of religious faith (‘Stella Days’).

The final choices for Best International Actress are also of note considering the pairing of Kristen Wiig – for her role in ‘Bridesmaids’ – with Glenn Close, Meryl Streep and Tilda Swinton, each of whom represents a film with a much greater sense of gravitas (‘Albert Nobbs’, ‘The Iron Lady’ and ‘We Need To Talk About Kevin’, respectively).

HBO’s fantasy series ‘Game of Thrones’ and Showtime historical drama ‘The Borgias’ were among those honoured in IFTA’s main television categories. The awards will be hosted by Simon Delaney and will be broadcast live on RTÉ One at 9.30pm on Saturday February 11.

For the full list of this year’s IFTA nominees, click here.

cinemafestival / Shutterstock.com

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