The Banshees of Inisherin had another good night at the 20th anniversary Irish Film and Television Academy Awards, winning best film and with Brendan Gleeson and Kerry Condon taking the best supporting actor and actress prizes respectively.
Gleeson arrived on the red carpet at the newly opened Dublin Royal Convention Centre near Dublin Castle following a mammoth promotional journey for the film that took him and co-star Colin Farrell from the Venice Film Festival all the way to the Oscars.
“I’ve never done anything to that degree,” Gleeson, who is currently filming the sequel to The Joker, told The Irish Times. “I could have done without that, because I really wanted to be fully engaged in what I was doing on Joker 2. So it was kind of weird. But it was a fantastic celebration of the movie.”
Also performing well was Frank Berry’s searing drama Aisha. The Raheny man beat out Martin McDonagh (Banshees of Inisherin) to best director and best screenplay. Starring Letitia Wright as a young Nigerian woman enduring the direct provision system for asylum seekers in Dublin, the film has been winning fans since its premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York.
The veteran performer Bríd Ní Neachtain won best actress for her performance in the much-admired Irish-language feature Róise & Frank. Paul Mescal, nominated opposite such talent as Colin Farrell and Liam Neeson, took best actor for his turn as a troubled father in Charlotte Wells’s debut feature Aftersun.
Mescal, also nominated in the supporting actor category for God’s Creatures, is currently the busiest actor on the planet and, preparing for the Gladiator sequel, was unable to make it to the convention centre.
An Irish Goodbye, directed by Tom Berkeley and Ross White, became the first-ever Irish short to win at the Oscars, Bafta and at Ifta. The directors of the Northern Irish film were on the red carpet with their stars Seamus O’Hara and James Martin.
“We went to the rugby, the Grand Slam game, and this man couldn’t move for being stopped,” White said, gesturing to Martin, who has Down syndrome. “It has been amazing. The love from the place has been amazing.”
Another popular win was Kathryn Ferguson’s Nothing Compares – a study of Sinéad O’Connor – which won the George Morrison Feature Documentary Award.
In a slightly eccentric system, Ifta presents the awards for TV drama and for film on the same evening. The runaway winner in the television section was Sharon Horgan’s darkly comic Bad Sisters. The Apple production took four Iftas: best TV drama, supporting actress for Anne-Marie Duff, director for Dearbhla Walsh, and best lead actress for Horgan.
“With Bad Sisters, it was a great story and the cast was extraordinary,” Horgan told The Irish Times. “But it also came along at a time when people were really angry. It had the right feeling of catharsis. I got lucky with the timing of it.”
This was the first in-person Ifta event since February 2018. There was no ceremony in 2019. Since 2020 the awards have been a virtual experience. The comic Deirdre O’Kane returned to deliver a spiky, witty performance as host in a gleaming new venue.
Patrick Kielty, a presenter, cheekily acknowledged he is current favourite to become the next host of The Late Late Show.
“I’m sitting beside Lisa McGee,” he said of the Derry Girls writer. “Lisa leaned over to me and said: ‘Paddy, are you taking the Late Late? You’d be shite at it. But I still think you should take it.’”
The efficient event welcomed such celebrities as John C Reilly, Caitriona Balfe, Andrew Scott, Bob Geldof and Jessie Buckley. That last actor, nominated in best supporting actress for Women Talking, celebrated a trip home.
“I never seem disconnected from being Irish,” she said. “The lovely thing about being Irish is that no matter where you are in the world there’s many of us. The minute you hear a whisper of their voice you are immediately at home.”
THE IRISH FILM AND TELEVISION ACADEMY AWARDS 2023
Best Film
The Banshees of Inisherin
Actor in a Lead Role – Film
Paul Mescal, Aftersun
Actress in a Lead Role – Film
Bríd Ní Neachtain, Róise & Frank
Actress in a Supporting Role – Film
Kerry Condon, The Banshees of Inisherin
Actor in a Supporting Role – Film
Brendan Gleeson, The Banshees of Inisherin
Director – Film
Frank Berry, Aisha
Script – Film
Frank Berry, Aisha
George Morrison Feature Documentary
Nothing Compares
Best Live Action Short
An Irish Goodbye
Best Animated Short
Soft Tissue
Best Hair & Make-Up
Joe Whelan, Tom McInerney, Vikings: Valhalla
Best Cinematography
Piers McGrail – It Is in Us All
Best Editing
Jonathan Redmond, Matt Villa, Elvis
Best Production Design
Tamara Conboy, Aisha
Best Sound
Aza Hand, Alan Scully, Adrian Conway, The Sparrow
Best Original Score
Sarah Lynch, The Dry
Best Costume Design
Consolata Boyle, Enola Holmes 2
Best VFX
Donal Nolan, The Woman King
Actor in a Lead Role – Drama
Stephen Rea, The English
Actress in a Lead Role – Drama
Sharon Horgan, Bad Sisters
Actor in a Supporting Role – Drama
Ciarán Hinds, The Dry
Actress in a Supporting Role – Drama
Ann Marie Duff, Bad Sisters
Best Drama
Bad Sisters
Director – Drama
Dearbhla Walsh, Bad Sisters
Best Script – Drama
Lisa McGee, Derry Girls
International Actor
Austin Butler, Elvis
International Actress
Cate Blanchett, Tár
International Film
All Quiet on the Western Front
Screen Ireland Rising Star
Aoife McArdle, Director
Lifetime Achievement Award
Joan Bergin
