An Cailín Ciúin, KIN, Ciarán Hinds, Jessie Buckley, Moe Dunford win at IFTAs

Film And TV
14 Mar 22

An Cailín Ciúin, KIN, Ciarán Hinds, Jessie Buckley, Moe Dunford win at IFTAs

<i>An Cailín Ciúin</i>, <i>KIN</i>, Ciarán Hinds, Jessie Buckley, Moe Dunford win at IFTAs

An Cailín Ciúin. Cait Catherine Clinch) is greeted by the woman of the house Eibhlin Carrie Crowley) after a long journey.

Kate Brayden

Chris Pine, Nicola Coughlan and Colin Farrell were among the guest presenters for the IFTA ceremony over the weekend.

Irish language film An Cailín Ciúin and RTÉ crime drama KIN were Saturday night's big winners at the virtual Irish Film and Television Academy (IFTA) Film and Drama Awards, winning eight and six awards respectively.

An Cailín Ciúin was named Best Film, marking the first time a feature written in the Irish language has taken the top honour. Writer-director Colm Bairéad also took home the gong for the Best Director and Rising Star awards, while young protagonist Catherine Clinch won the coveted Lead Actress award.

A recent honouree at the Berlin International Film Festival - also a first for an Irish-speaking flick); An Cailín Ciúin also won Best Cinematography (Kate McCullough), Best Editing (John Murphy), Best Production Design (Emma Lowney) and Best Original Music (Stephen Rennicks).

KIN was named Best Drama and had a clean-sweep in the television acting categories, with wins for stars Sam Keeley (Lead Actor), Clare Dunne (Lead Actress), Ciarán Hinds (Supporting Actor) and Maria Doyle Kennedy (Supporting Actress). The popular show's writer-creator, Peter McKenna, was also awarded for his tension-fuelled script.

KIN was a hit with both audiences and critics alike, consolidating over 621,000 viewers on RTÉ One, and 2.7 million streams on RTÉ Player, making it the most successful drama in Ireland last year.

The gripping gangland drama from RTÉ was officially been renewed for season two in February. The dramatics continue into the second offering, where the Kinsellas now find themselves as top-dogs in Dublin. However, their success has drawn the eye of an even more powerful enemy — forcing the family to navigate life on top, the consequences of their actions and the bonds of blood.

Oscar nominee Ciarán Hinds may have lost out at last night's BAFTA awards, but he was a double IFTA recipient on the night. He took home the Supporting Actor award in the film categories for his performance in Belfast.

Fellow Oscar nominee and Belfast writer/director Kenneth Branagh was honoured for his semi-autobiographical screenplay from the perspective of a young boy.

The Lead Actor Film award went to Nightride star Moe Dunford for his performance in the one-shot Belfast thriller. There were also wins for The Lost Daughter's Jessie Buckley (Supporting Actress Film), Young Plato (Feature Documentary), Vikings: Valhalla director Hannah Quinn (Director Drama) and the short films Nothing to Declare (Live Action) and Fall of the Ibis King (Animation).

Hollywood star Chris Pine, Bridgerton actress Nicola Coughlan and The Batman actor Colin Farrell were among the guest presenters for the Deirdre O'Kane-hosted ceremony.

Chris O'Dowd, Roma Downey, Michael Moore, Gabriel Byrne, Liam Cunningham, Fionnula Flanagan, Charlie Cox, Victoria Smurfit and John Connors joined the trio, among others.

📣 Guest presenters announced for the #IFTA Awards this Saturday on @VirginMedia_TV

Colin Farrell, Chris Pine & Nicola Coughlan will be joined by a host of Irish and international talent at this year's virtual show.

View the full announcement here
➡️ https://t.co/R3FjQ3trYi pic.twitter.com/NBizCnFu4k

— Irish Film & Television Academy (IFTA) (@IFTA) March 10, 2022

Star Trek and Wonder Woman star Chris Pine recently shot fantasy epic Dungeons & Dragons in Ireland, with the talent saluting Irish storytelling and screencraft as he presented the Best Film award to An Cailín Ciúin.

"I've had the pleasure of performing in Martin McDonagh's The Lieutenant of Inishmore," the American actor commented. "I love your countryside, and I've had the pleasure of spending time in Galway, the Aran Islands and Dublin, and just recently I had the good fortune to do some filming in Antrim."

"Throughout tonight, you have seen first-hand the incredible films and filmmakers you have in Ireland," Pine continued. "I salute and congratulate all of you."

English actor Charlie Cox starred alongside the cream of Ireland's acting talent in KIN, and made sure to express his delight at the creativity in the country.

"I have such fond memories of my time spent in Dublin with my family while I was shooting KIN during lockdown," said the Daredevil star.

"We were there for seven months and had such an amazing time getting to know so many wonderful and talented people and to see first-hand the incredible artistry and craft within the industry there. I was fortunate to work with some brilliant Irish actors and actresses while I was there."

Oscar-winning director Michael Moore (Bowling for Columbine, Fahrenheit 9/11) presented the George Morrison Feature Documentary Award to the Belfast school story Young Plato. He later spoke about the value of non-fiction filmmaking.

"I would encourage anybody out there who is interested in non-fiction films, because we live in a dark time right now and authoritarians around the world - we had our experience with the former guy - they are not truth-tellers," he said.

"The lies that they build their world on stick with us to this day and our hearts of course go out to the people in the Ukraine and having to suffer through being invaded by somebody again who does not believe in non-fiction. So all of you who are documentary filmmakers, keep going - it's important work."

Check out the winners in full below:

Film Categories

Best Film
An Cailín Ciúin

Director Film
Colm Bairéad - An Cailín Ciúin

Script Film
Kenneth Branagh - Belfast

Lead Actor Film
Moe Dunford - Nightride

Lead Actress Film
Catherine Clinch - An Cailín Ciúin

Supporting Actor Film
Ciarán Hinds - Belfast

Supporting Actress Film
Jessie Buckley - The Lost Daughter

Feature Documentary
Young Plato

Short Film (Live Action)
Nothing to Declare

Short Film (Animation)
Fall of the Ibis King