Following another successful year of Irish entries screening in California, Newport Beach Film Festival has announced several Irish winners at this year’s festival.
Running for a week from Thursday, April 26th to Thursday, May 3rd, the festival welcomed over 50,000 film fans, to view a programme that boasted 350 films from 58 different countries.
‘Michael Inside’ continued its incredible award run, with Frank Berry and Tom Comerford picking up a Jury Awards each for ‘Best Director’ and ‘Best Cinematographer’, respectively.
Speaking about the Jury awards, Writer/Director Frank Berry told IFTN:
“We are delighted that MICHAEL INSIDE has won these two awards at the Newport Beach Film Festival, where the film had its North American premiere last week. I’m particularly delighted that Tom Comerford, one of Ireland’s finest cinematographers, has been recognized for his amazing work on the film.”
Nick Kelly’s multi-IFTA nominated feature film, ‘The Drummer & the Keeper’ received the Audience Award for ‘Best Foreign Film’.
Two Irish short productions also received Festival Honours at this year’s festival. Forty Foot Pictures’ ‘Earthy Encounters’, which stars Fionn O’Shea, picked up an honour for ‘Foreign Short Family Film’, while Pink Kong Studios’ ‘Departure’ received the ‘Animated Short Film’ honour.
Full list of winners below:
Jury Awards
Best Film: All Square
Best Actor: Michael Kelly, All Square
Best Actress: Rusty Schwimmer, Wild Honey
Best Director: Frank Berry, Michael Inside
Best Cinematography: Tom Comerford, Michael Inside
Best Documentary: Forever ‘B’
Best Screenwriter: Timothy Brady, All Square
Best Narrative Short Film: DeKalb Elementary
Best Documentary Short Film: The Bare Knuckle Carer
Best Animated Short Film: My Father’s Room
Best Music Video: Cold Little Heart
Festival Honors
Directing: Shana Feste, Boundaries
Acting: Maika Monroe, Shotgun, and Finn Wittrock, Locating Silver Lake
Breakout Performance: Shane Graham, Ride
Screenwriting: Will Elliott, Kirk Johnson, Nicholas Rutherford, Robert Schwartzman, The Unicorn
Foreign Film: The Best of All Worlds
Cinematography: Hunting Lands
Editing: Juveniles
Narrative Film: Meerkat Moonship and The Mad Whale
Documentary Film: Social Animals and Kiss the Joy: The Story of Joan Lind Van Blom
Short Film: Homeless
Foreign Short Film: Voice
Animated Short Film: Departure
Breakout Performance: Andre Hennicke, The Peculiar Abilities of Mr. Mahler
Short Documentary: The Girl and the Picture, Fisk ‘Untitled Portrait’ and Land of the Wind (Tierra del Viento)
Short Family Film: Bullies
Foreign Short Family Film: Earthy Encounters
Audience Awards
Feature Film: Ride
Foreign Film: The Drummer and the Keeper
Documentary: Pick of the Litter
Action Sports: Time Well Spent
Art, Architecture and Design: Chesley Bonestell: A Brush with the Future
Culinary: Cuban Food Stories
Environmental: The Human Element
Family: A Boy Called Sailboat
Music: Up to Snuff
Short Documentary: Aloha Aina Warrior
Short Narrative: The Day of Matthew Montgomery