peter flynn
festival director
dawn morrissey
festival producer
harvey o'brien
associate director
The 2008 BIFF Award winners have been announced! And the winners are . . .
BEST FILM: Eden (Director: Declan Recks; Producers: David Collins, Brian Willis)
BEST DOCUMETNARY: At Home With The Clearys (Producer/Director: Alison Millar)
BEST SHORT FICTION: The Basket Case (Director: Owen O'Neill, Producer: Katie Holly)
DIRECTOR'S CHOICE: Vox Humana (notes for a small opera) (Producer/Director: Bob Quinn)
Eden, 2008 Best Film Award winner.
At Home With The Clearys, 2008 Best Documentary Award winner.
The Basket Case, 2008 Best Short Fiction Award winner.
Vox Humana (notes for a small opera), 2008 Director's Choice Award winner.
Ireland 2008, Directed by Declan Recks.
In a small provincial town, Billy and Breda are approaching their 10th wedding anniversary. With two young children, their married life has disintegrated into a state monotony, and the distance between them seems to grow by the day. But as the date approaches the reality of Billy and Breda’s relationship can no longer be ignored. Writer Eugene O’Brien deftly adapts his critically acclaimed and award winning play of the same name for the screen and with director Declan Recks paints a delicate, if unflinching, portrait of a marriage in peril. The performances from the film’s leads, Aidan Kelly and Eileen Walsh (who won the Best Actress award at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival) are mesmerizing. The winner of this year’s Best Feature Award, Eden has been hailed by The Irish Times as “pure cinema . . . brilliantly directed . . . the yardstick by which all other Irish films this year will be judged.”
Ireladn 2008. Directed by Alison Millar.
Buried under concrete and controversy on the outskirts of Dublin lie the remains of Ireland’s ‘pop star priest’ - Father Michael Cleary, a beloved public figure who posthumously revealed to have fathered a child with his live-in housemaid. In 1991 student filmmaker Alison Millar moved into his house and started filming him. Fifteen years on, using her unseen archive, Millar revisits the secret life of a man who fooled her, his family and the entire nation. At Home With the Clearys paints a compelling picture of Father Cleary, his lover Phyllis Hamilton, and their son Ross who continues to grapple with scandal’s devastating fallout. But the film’s concerns run deeper, probing the wider ramifications of the event and its impact on the character and reputation of the Irish Catholic Church. We are proud to award At Home With the Clearys this year’s Best Documentary Award.
Ireland 2008. Directed by Owen O’Neill.
This year’s Best Short Fiction winner is a darkly comic romance about a man’s love for his dying wife – and the lengths he will go to in order to prevent being parted from her. A beautiful and memorable film from writer/director Owen O’Neill.
Ireland 2008. Directed by Bob Quinn.
The new film from veteran Irish filmmaker Bob Quinn tells the poignant story of Luke, a homeless man seeking redemption after the accidental death of his daughter. Luke is drawn to the Galway Baroque Singers after encountering one of its members who bears a striking resemblance to his daughter. Quinn comments pointedly on the plight of the homeless and disaffected and the film’s gritty, utilitarian style is nicely underscored the real and unaffected performance of the film’s lead, Luke Cauldwell. The heavenly sounds of the 70-member Galway Baroque Singers dominate throughout and the emotions they stir are rich and layered. Quinn’s mix of the sacred and the profane makes for a touching and heartfelt film which we are proud to honor with this year’s Director’s Choice Award.
The BIFF Awards were inaugurated in 2003 with the Fifth Annual Boston Irish Film Festival (BIFF 5). Winners were chosen from three categories: Best Feature; Best Documentary; and Best Short Fiction/Animation.
Each of the winners receive a beautifully designed glass trophy as well as airline tickets and hotel accommodation for a two night stay in Boston during the festival.
The BIFF Awards.
The 2007 BIFF Awards:
Director's Choice Award: On Broadway | Best Documentary: The Hunger Strike| Best Short: Deep Breaths | Excellence Award Honoree: Aidan Quinn.
The 2006 BIFF Awards:
Director's Choice Award: Small Engine Repair | Best Documentary: Home | Best Short: Badly Drawn Roy | Excellence Award Honoree: Brendan Gleeson.
The 2005 BIFF Awards:
Best Feature: Mickybo & Me | Best Documentary: Patrick Kavanagh: No Man's Fool | Best Short: Recoil | Director's Choice Award: Undressing My Mother | Excellence Award Honoree: Fionnula Flanagan
The 2004 BIFF Awards:
Best Feature: Timbuktu | Best Documentary: Cinegael Paradiso | Best Short: The Nightingale and the Rose | Director's Choice Award: Spin the Bottle | Special Jury Prize: News for the Church | Excellence Award Honoree: Gabriel Byrne
The 2003 BIFF Awards:
Best Feature: Boxed | Best Documentary: Darkroom | Best Short: From Darkness | Director's Choice Award: Photos to Send | Excellence Award Honoree: Jim Sheridan