Corkman wins short film award at Cannes

Brian Deane, an Irish filmmaker is among the winners of the first Babelgum Online Film Festival. Deane, aged 29 was announced as a winner by Spike Lee at a ceremony during the Cannes Film Festival.

Deane who is from Glanmire in Cork made a short film, Without Words, for which he was awarded the Babelgum Social/Environment Award. The prize for the award was €20,000.

The Babelgum Online Film Festival is the first of its kind and Dean beat over a thousand entries from 86 countries who uploaded their projects for the competition. Visitors to the Babelgum website decided the competition shortlist, which was then judged by a jury of film experts, led by director Spike Lee. Bebelgum is an online TV network.

Deane is a recent graduate of NUI Galway. Commenting on the award, Rod Stoneman, Director of the School, said, “Without Words is a marvellous example of an imaginative film based on an issue from Public Advocacy. With its memorable symmetrical form it focuses on the tragedy of non-communication between two friends.”

No doubt, Deane’s old classmates will be more than a little jealous at the filmmaker’s 20 grand prize.