The Jameson Dublin International Film Festival came to a close on Sunday with the awards of the Dublin Film Critics Circle at the Irish Film Institute. Presided over by this newspaper’s Tara Brady, the bash featured a great deal of cake and some small amount of the title sponsor’s popular beverage.
The DFCC awarded best film to Vanishing Waves. Set in an indeterminate future, Kristina Buozyte’s Lithuanian film concerns a group of scientists fiddling with the consciousness of two young volunteers. Part surreal head- wrecker, part pointy-headed sci-fi speculation, the picture deserves a distribution deal at the soonest opportunity.
Best director went to Mikhail Segal for his Russian film Short Stories. Veteran producer David Collins, managing director of Samson Films, was on hand to pick up the best Irish film award for Macdara Vallely’s Babygirl.
The Michael Dwyer Discovery Award has, since its inception in 2010, been the most valued gong of the evening. Brian Jennings, RTÉ newsreader and partner of this newspaper’s late film correspondent, was at the IFI to present this year’s prize to Claire Dix for her stunning film Broken Song.
Screening as part of the festival's Reel Art strand, the picture follows inner-city Dubliners as they express themselves through song and street poetry. Broken Song went on to pick up the audience award at JDIFF. For a full list of winners, see irishtimes.com/blogs/screenwriter
:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/SJQTLMCMMRC2PLALXUKEWWS6HU.png)