The feature films The General and I Went Down and the television drama Amongst Women figured strongly at the inaugural Irish Film and Television Awards, broadcast live on RTE1 and BBC1 last night.
The General, John Boor man's biopic of the Dublin gangster Martin Cahill, won the Best Feature Film award, with Brendan Gleeson winning the Best Actor prize for his portrayal of Cahill. Best Screenplay went to Conor McPherson for I Went Down, while cinematographer Cian De Buitlear won Best Craft Contribution for the same film. The Best Actress award went to Brid Brennan for Dancing at Lughnasa, while Paul Mercier won Best Short Film for his comedy, Lipservice.
In TV drama, Amongst Women swept the board, with awards for Best Drama, Best Leading Performance (Tony Doyle) and Best Craft Contribution (cinematographer Sue Gibson). In other television categories, States of Fear won Best Documentary in English and Rotha Mor an tSaoil was voted Best Documentary in Irish. The Best News/Current Affairs/Features programme was O'Gorman's People, while the final season of Gay Byrne's Late Late Show won in the Best Entertainment category.
Next year's IFTA awards ceremony will be produced in Belfast by BBC Northern Ireland.
