The 21st Irish Film & Television Academy (IFTA) Awards, which highlight Irish filmmakers, television creators and performers, were held tonight where Pat Collins’ That They May Face The Rising Sun, adapted from John McGahern’s novel about life in rural Ireland, won Best Film in an upset. Despite earning a second best 11 nominations, the top award was its only win.
Lies We Tell, about an orphaned heiress is forced to embrace her family’s dark legacy, led with three wins: for Director Lisa Mulcahy, Lead Actress Agnes O’Casey and Best Script. It came in with the most nominations, 13.
Oscar winner Cillian Murphy repeated his Best Actor win at the Academy Awards for Oppenheimer with a win here for Lead Actor. In the supporting categories, Paul Mescal for All of Us Strangers and Alison Oliver for Saltburn triumphed.
In the three international categories, Best Picture Oscar winner Oppenheimer was named Best International Film, Emma Stone followed her Best Actress Oscar win with a win here and Paul Giamatti won International Actor for The Holdovers.
The craft categories were widely spread out with Barbie (Sound), Poor Things (Cinematography), Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves (VFX), LOLA (Music, Costume Design), A Haunting in Venice (Production Design), Still: A Michael J Fox Movie (Editing), and The Pope’s Exorcist (Hair & Makeup) all earning awards.
In the television drama categories, Kin was the overwhelming winner earning top awards for series, directing, script, lead actress Clare Dune and supporting actress Maria Doyle Kennedy.
Oscar-winning filmmaker Neil Jordan presented renowned Irish actor Stephen Rea with the Irish Academy’s Lifetime Achievement Award, for his outstanding contribution to the Irish and international screen industry, across both film and television. Siobhán Cullen was the winner of this year’s Screen Ireland IFTA Rising Star Award.
Presenters included Oscar-nominated actresses Lily Gladstone and Kerry Condon, as well as Liam Cunningham, Fionnula Flanagan, Caitriona Balfe, Kneecap, Aidan Quinn, Neil Jordan, Patrick Bergin, Alisha Weir, Jason O’Mara, Clinton Liberty, Demi Isaac Oviawe, Alex Murphy, Michael McElhatton, Nadia Forde, Amy-Joyce Hastings, Pollyanna Mcintosh, and Catherine Martin TD, Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media.
IFTA CEO Áine Moriarty said: “This year’s Irish Academy Award winners represent the best in Irish filmmaking talent both at home and around the world, and we are delighted to honour them here tonight. From blockbuster leading roles to brilliant animated shorts, this year’s awards categories span the breadth of great Irish film and drama.”
The ceremony was held at the Dublin Royal Convention Centre and hosted for the first time by Emmy-winning broadcaster Baz Ashmawy.
Here is the complete list of winners.
Film Categories
Best Film
Double Blind
Flora and Son
Lies We Tell
LOLA
That They May Face The Rising Sun – WINNER
Verdigris
Director – Film
Double Blind – Ian Hunt-Duffy
Flora and Son – John Carney
Lies We Tell – Lisa Mulcahy – WINNER
LOLA – Andrew Legge
That They May Face The Rising Sun – Pat Collins
Verdigris – Patricia Kelly
Script – Film
Double Blind – Darach McGarrigle
Flora and Son – John Carney
Lies We Tell – Elisabeth Gooch – WINNER
LOLA – Andrew Legge
That They May Face The Rising Sun – Éamon Little
Verdigris – Patricia Kelly
Lead Actor – Film
Andrew Scott – All Of Us Strangers
David Wilmot – Lies We Tell
Cillian Murphy – Oppenheimer – WINNER
Barry Keoghan – Saltburn
Barry Ward – That They May Face The Rising Sun
Pierce Brosnan – The Last Rifleman
Lead Actress – Film
Jessie Buckley – Fingernails
Eve Hewson – Flora and Son
Saoirse Ronan – Foe
Agnes O’Casey – Lies We Tell – WINNER
Bríd Brennan – My Sailor, My Love
Geraldine McAlinden – Verdigris
Supporting Actor – Film
Paul Mescal – All Of Us Strangers – WINNER
Diarmuid Noyes – Double Blind
Chris Walley – Lies We Tell
Kenneth Branagh – Oppenheimer
Liam Carney – Sunlight
Lalor Roddy – That They May Face The Rising Sun
Supporting Actress – Film
Bronagh Gallagher – Dance First
Catherine Walker – My Sailor, My Love
Alison Oliver – Saltburn – WINNER
Ruth McCabe – That They May Face The Rising Sun
Agnes O’Casey – The Miracle Club
Maya O’Shea – Verdigris
International Film Award Categories
Best International Film
All Of Us Strangers
Oppenheimer – WINNER
Past Lives
Poor Things
Saltburn
The Holdovers
Best International Actor
Ryan Gosling – Barbie
Leonardo DiCaprio – Killers of the Flower Moon
Bradley Cooper – Maestro
Mark Ruffalo – Poor Things
Willem Dafoe – Poor Things
Paul Giamatti – The Holdovers – WINNER
Best International Actress
Margot Robbie – Barbie
Lily Gladstone – Killers of the Flower Moon
Carey Mulligan – Maestro
Annette Bening – Nyad
Greta Lee – Past Lives
Emma Stone – Poor Things – WINNER
Other Award Categories
George Morrison Feature Documentary
In The Shadow of Beirut
Joan Baez: I Am A Noise
Notes from Sheepland
Stolen
The Days of Trees – WINNER
The Deepest Breath
Live-action Short Film
Calf – WINNER
Mud Queen
Sound & Colour
The Golden West
Two for the Road
Waiting Day
Animation Short Film
Nana Dee
The Small Makings of a Storm
The Presenter
Wind & The Shadow – WINNER
Craft Categories
Cinematography
Double Blind – Narayan Van Maele
Kin – JJ Rolfe
Lies We Tell – Eleanor Bowman
Poor Things – Robbie Ryan – WINNER
That They May Face The Rising Sun – Richard Kendrick
Costume Design
Double Blind – Gwen Jeffares Hourie
Lies We Tell – Joanne O’Brien
LOLA – Lara Campbell – WINNER
That They May Face The Rising Sun – Louise Stanton
The Pope’s Exorcist – Lorna Marie Mugan
Production Design
A Haunting in Venice – John Paul Kelly – WINNER
Double Blind – Steve Kingston
Lies We Tell – Caroline Hill
LOLA – Ferdia Murphy
That They May Face The Rising Sun – Padraig O’Neill
Hair & Make-up
Double Blind – Jennia Readman, Madonna Bambino
Flora and Son – Lyndsey Herron, Barbara Conway
Lies We Tell – Helen O’Connor, Aitana Silvana
That They May Face The Rising Sun – Sandra Dunne, Edwina Kelly
The Pope’s Exorcist – Orla Carroll, Lynn Johnston – WINNER
Sound
Barbie – Nina Rice – WINNER
Double Blind – Brendan Rehill, Rob Moore, Peter Blayney
Evil Dead Rise – Garret Farrell, Peter Albrechtsen, Myk Farmer
Lies We Tell – Aza Hand, Damien Lynch, Peter Nicell
Saltburn – Nina Rice, Nina Hartstone, Adam Scrivener
Original Music
Double Blind – Die Hexen
Flora and Son – Gary Clark, John Carney
Lies We Tell – Aza Hand
LOLA – Neil Hannon – WINNER
That They May Face The Rising Sun – Irene Buckley, Linda Buckley
Editing
Double Blind – Colin Campbell
Lies We Tell – Weronika Kaminska
LOLA – Colin Campbell
Still: A Michael J Fox Movie – Michael Harte – WINNER
Erik Anderson is the founder/owner and Editor-in-Chief of AwardsWatch and has always loved all things Oscar, having watched the Academy Awards since he was in single digits; making lists, rankings and predictions throughout the show. This led him down the path to obsessing about awards. Much later, he found himself in film school and the film forums of GoldDerby, and then migrated over to the former Oscarwatch (now AwardsDaily), before breaking off to create AwardsWatch in 2013.
He is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, accredited by the Cannes Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and more, is a member of the International Cinephile Society (ICS), The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics (GALECA), Hollywood Critics Association (HCA) and the International Press Academy. Among his many achieved goals with AwardsWatch, he has given a platform to underrepresented writers and critics and supplied them with access to film festivals and the industry and calls the Bay Area his home where he lives with his husband and son.