25/02/2009

The Dublin Film Critics Circle (DFCC) has named The Secret of Kells [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Didier Brunner
interview: Tomm Moore
interview: Viviane Vanfleteren
film profile] Best Irish Film at the 2009 Jameson Dublin International Film Festival. The film won against strong challenges from fellow nominees Five Minutes of Heaven [+see also:
trailer
film profile], The Yellow Bittern: The Life and Times of Liam Clancy and The Daisy Chain.

Anvil! The Story of Anvil won the Audience Award, narrowly beating The Secret of Kells and Gran Torino. The film also won Best Documentary.

Tomas Alfredson’s Let the Right One In [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: John Nordling
interview: Tomas Alfredson
film profile] won Best Film of the festival at the critics’ panel. The other contenders were Il Divo [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Nicola Giuliano
interview: Paolo Sorrentino
interview: Philippe Desandre
film profile], In the Loop [+see also:
trailer
film profile] and The Class [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Carole Scotta
interview: Laurent Cantet
film profile]. The panel comprised John Maguire (Sunday Business Post), George Byrne (Evening Herald), Donald Clarke (The Irish Times), Paul Lynch (Sunday Tribune) and DFCC president Tara Brady (Hot Press).

Tom Hardy won Best Performance for Bronson [+see also:
trailer
film profile]. Paolo Sorrentino won Best Director for Il Divo, beating off challenges from fellow European nominees Laurent Cantet (The Class), Werner Herzog (Encounters at the End of the World) and Alfredson (Let the Right One In).

Sorrentino also received the festival lifetime achievement award, the Volta. Previous Volta recipients as part of the Jameson Dublin International Film Festival include Daniel Day Lewis, Gabriel Byrne, Brendan Gleeson, Consolata Boyle, Brendan McCaul and Leo Ward. Renowned Irish documentary-maker and archivist George Morrison, best known for his 1959 masterpiece Mise Éire, the first ever Irish language feature, was also conferred a Volta.

The festival closed with a star-studded screening of The Secret of Kells attended by Brendan Gleeson and Mick Lally, who provided the voices, as well as animators Cartoon Saloon. The festival overall saw an increase in admissions by 15% across its range of events.