Irish-made short film on nomination list for Oscar

Hollywood's red carpet beckons for one of Ireland's newest film production companies, Lemon Cut.

The Terms, an 11-minute drama costing €31,740 (£25,000), has made the final 10 on the short-list for an Oscar nomination in the "live action short feature" category.

Film director Johnny O'Reilly and executive producer Niall McLoughlin, of Lemon Cut, will know on February 12th if their first short feature has made the final cut.

Only five short films will go through to be nominated for an Oscar and an automatic invitation to the Academy Awards ceremony in March.

According to the film's blurb, The Terms is a story about a father (John O'Toole) and son (Eamonn Owens, star of The Butcher Boy) who live in a caravan "in the middle of nowhere. When the son burns down the caravan, his father decides to kill him in a bizarre and convoluted execution pact. Having agreed to 'the terms' of the pact, the son plays out his father's game with unpredictable consequences."

An exuberant Niall McLoughlin said yesterday: "We have a 50 per cent chance of getting nominated. It is a huge boost."

Already a winner at nine international film festivals, the drama was the €6,350 (£5,000) winner at the Temple Bar Short Circuits festival in Dublin.