Irish director Aisling Walsh won the award for best movie for her film Song for a Raggy Boy last night at the first Copenhagen International Film Festival.
The film, which stars Aidan Quinn, is based on the autobiographical book by Patrick Galvin which describes his experiences at a reformatory school and the brutal treatment of boys schooled there.
Production of the film took place in Ireland last summer on a budget of $4 million. The film premiered in January at the Sundance Film Festival and received a standing ovation there. It is due to reach Irish cinemas in the autumn.
The story centres around the sadistic Brother John (Iain Glen) who is allowed perpetrate the abuse by other teachers who are too old or scared to interfere. Aidan Quinn plays a young teacher who joins the staff fresh from experiencing the Spanish Civil War. His character, William Franklin, is an inspirational figure reminiscent of the teacher played by Robin Williams in Dead Poets' Society.
Among the films previously directed by Walsh are Joyriders and Forgive and Forget.
The festival's award for best actor went to Norway's Kristoffer Joner for his part in the movie Falling Sky by Norwegian director Gunnar Vikene. Stephanie Leon of Denmark was named best actress. She played the lead character in the Danish movie Scratch. Norway's Bent Hamer, director of the film Kitchen Stories, won the prize for best director.
The jury was led by Greek filmmaker Theo Angelopoulos and included German director Jutta Brueckner and Belgium's Marion Haensel.
Fourteen films from Britain, Norway, Spain, Hungary, France, the Netherlands, Italy, Ireland and Denmark were competing for Golden Swan statues.
The statuettes were a nod to Denmark's most famous son, Hans Christian Andersen, author of The Ugly Duckling.