Cork drama Christy wins top honour at Dingle Distillery International Film Festival

Christy has been named Best International Feature Film at the Dingle Distillery International Film Festival.

Directed by Brendan Canty and starring Diarmuid Noyes and Danny Power, the film follows two estranged brothers as they confront their troubled past.

The story leans into the charm and humour of the locals, without looking away from the realities of social exclusion, drug use and a complicated care system.

“We never wanted it to be an issues film,” Canty told Hot Press, “we just wanted it to feel authentic, to show the good and the bad, and to let people decide for themselves.”

Now in its third year, the Dingle Distillery International Film Festival attracted both Irish and international talent, with appearances from Game of Thrones actor Aidan Gillen and Winston and Joe Azzopardi, producers of Gladiator II.

Former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern attended a screening of Alan Gilsenan’s documentary The Irish Question, which examines the future of a united Ireland and features contributions from Bill Clinton and Mary Lou McDonald. The film received a special mention in the Documentary category.

Other winners included Jeda de Brí’s Naked Lights, which won the Dovinia Award for Best International Short, and A New Kind of Wilderness by Silje Evensmo Jacobsen, named Best International Documentary.

This year’s programme also highlighted the Irish language, with bilingual screenings and workshops led by filmmaker Ruán Magan, who discussed the “fascinating” future of Irish-language storytelling.