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No surprises as ‘Love/Hate’ and ‘What Richard Did’ dominate awards
Before it got under way on Saturday night, actor Chris O’Dowd tweeted that the Irish Film and Television Academy (Ifta) awards would be the “annual Love/Hate prize-giving night”, and so it turned out to be once again.
The RTÉ crime drama series, which this season has cemented its reputation as one of the best ever to be screened on Irish television, added another five Iftas to the seven it won last year.
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“The novelty hasn’t worn off with Love/Hate,” said best television actress Charlie Murphy when she accepted her award, and that clearly extends to the academy’s judges.
Creator and writer Stuart Carolan texted his mother the word “hat-trick” having won three successive Iftas for the Love/Hate script.
There were no surprises either when the south Dublin drama What Richard Did won five awards including best picture – making it a second successive best picture award for its producers Ed Guiney and Andrew Lowe of Element Pictures. Last year they won for The Guard.
Rising star
What Richard Did star Jack Reynor won the best actor award.
The film has already propelled Reynor into the big time. He recently landed the lead role in the blockbuster franchise Transformers directed by the king of popcorn schlock Michael Bay.
“There is not a lot I can say about Transformers at the moment. I would love to talk about it,” he said, but added that Bay would “kill” him if he did.
The event in the Convention Centre Dublin was decidedly light on A-list names, either foreign or domestic, but Reynor’s star is on the rise.
He’s only 21 though, and underlined his youth by thanking his mother for “the freedom to achieve my dreams”, dedicating his award to his five- and six-year-old siblings watching at home.
Reynor lost out in the best newcomer category to Kerry filmmaker Gerard Barrett, who won the award for his debut feature Pilgrim Hill shot with a €4,500 loan from his local credit union in Listowel.
Domhnall Gleeson, the son of Brendan Gleeson, has continued to establish himself as a respected actor in his own right by winning best supporting actor for his performance in Anna Karenina. Oscar-nominated cinematographer Seamus McGarvey also won an Ifta for Anna Karenina.
One small step for an actor
O’Dowd, looking tanned having been in Los Angeles in recent weeks filming the HBO series Family Tree, won an Ifta for his semi-autobiographical drama series Moone Boy which won best entertainment programme.
“I’m very lucky. I’m like a toddler spewing up broccoli among very giant men,” he quipped.
The BBC drama Ripper Street, which was filmed in Ireland, won two technical awards. The best documentary went to Mea Maxima Culpa – Silence in the House of God, about protests by four institutionalised deaf men against sex abuse in the Catholic Church. The award was dedicated to former RTÉ and Irish Times journalist the late Mary Raftery.
The best current affairs programme when to BBC Spotlight for Sean Quinn’s Missing Millions.
The best sports programme went to When Ali Came to Ireland, which was about Muhammad Ali’s famous visit to Ireland in 1973. Among those present at the awards were Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore, the Minister for Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht Jimmy Deenihan and the Minister for Transport and Tourism Leo Varadkar, who confessed to watching very little television because of his hectic schedule, although he did get to see the film Lincoln recently.
“I thought it was real, a good representation of what politics is about. It is full of good people who have to say things they don’t really believe in to achieve great things.”
Winners Film and TV
Best film
What Richard Did (Ed Guiney, Andrew Lowe, Element Pictures)
Best director
Lenny Abrahamson, What Richard Did (Element Pictures)
Best actor
Jack Reynor, What Richard Did (Element Pictures)
Best actress
Ruth Bradley, Grabbers (Forward Films, High Treason Productions, Samson Films)
Supporting actor film
Domhnall Gleeson, Anna Karenina (Universal Pictures)
Supporting actress film
Bríd Brennan, Shadow Dancer (Element Pictures)
Best film script
Malcolm Campbell, What Richard Did (Element Pictures)
Special Irish language
Lón sa Spéir – Men at Lunch (Sean and Eamonn Ó Cualáin, Sónta)
George Morrison feature documentary
Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God (Trevor Birney, Eimhear O'Neill, Ruth O'Reilly, Below The Radar)
International film
Argo (Warner Bros)
International actor
Daniel Day-Lewis, Lincoln, 20th Century Fox
International actress
Marion Cotillard, Rust and Bone, Studio Canal
Television drama
Love/Hate (Suzanne McAuley, Steve Matthews, Octagon Films)
Best actor TV
Tom Vaughan Lawlor, Love/Hate (Octagon Films)
Best actress TV
Charlie Murphy, Love/Hate (Octagon Films)
Costume
Good Vibrations, Maggie Donnelly (Canderblinks Films)
Director of photography
Seamus McGarvey, Anna Karenina (Universal Pictures)
Editing Film/Drama
Nathan Nugent, What Richard Did (Element Pictures)
Current affairs
Spotlight: Sean Quinn's Missing Millions (BBCNI)
Documentary
Congo 1961 (Akajava Films)
Entertainment
Moone Boy (Grand Pictures, Baby Cow, Hot Cod and Sprout Pictures for Sky 1)
Factual
The Radharc Squad (Tyrone Productions)
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