Irish actor Gabriel Byrne leant his support to the Irish Film New York Festival last weekend, where Irish filmmakers Kieron J Walsh, Kirsten Sheridan, Lelia Doolan and Gerard Barrett picked up awards.
Byrne attended the screening of Lelia Doolan’s biographical documentary ‘Bernadette – Notes on a Political Journey’, which outlines the personal and professional life of female politician Bernadette Devlin McAliskey, who rose to fame in Northern Ireland in the 70s.
Doolan, who won an IFTA Award for the documentary, also participated in a Q&A session after the screening which was also attended by writer Malachy McCourt, philanthropist Loretta Brennan Glucksman and the Consul General of Ireland, Noel Kilkenny.
The IFNY Festival wrapped up last Sunday after a three-day event. Now in its second year, organisers say it was the biggest turn out yet, with over 1,200 attendees viewing the latest Irish screenings, a panel discussion and an awards ceremony at the Glucksman Ireland House.
Kieron J Walsh’s ‘Jump’ picked up the Best Feature Award; ‘Dollhouse’ director Kirsten Sheridan, who also attended for the screening of her latest feature, picked up the Innovation Award; ‘Pilgrim Hill’ filmmaker Gerard Barrett was awarded the Best Newcomer Award and Lelia Doolan won the Best Documentary Award.
Niall McKay, executive director of IFNY, said he and the IFNY team were “thrilled” at the success of this year’s festival: “With increased audiences of 1,200 this year, we are achieving our goal of building on our successes each year and bringing the best of Irish cinema to a U.S. viewership. It was also a pleasure to present inaugural IFNY awards to four of our filmmakers.”
Other films screening at the festival included Ian Fitzgibbon’s ‘Death of a Superhero’ and Macdara Vallely’s ‘Babygirl’. Vallely also took part in a roundtable discussion with fellow filmmakers Sheridan, Doolan and Walsh.
The next IFNY Festival will take place in October 2013.
