07/03/2006

Six Shooter, renowned Irish playwright Martin McDonagh’s first move into film, was rewarded with an Oscar for Best Live Action Short Film last Sunday in Los Angeles, a success celebrated by its UK producers Mia Bays and Kenton Allen and their Irish counterpart John MacDonnell, as well as by the Irish Film Board and Film Four Lab, which teamed up on the project as part of their strategy to develop new film talent together.

McDonagh first gained recognition for the multiple award-winning play Beauty Queen of Leenane in 1998, and Pillow Man won the prestigious Olivier Awards for Best New Play for the second year running in 2005.

His 27-minute film debut takes place almost entirely on a train, where a man who has just lost his wife encounters a strange and possibly dangerous teenager. The cast includes Brendan Gleeson (Breakfast On Pluto [+see also:
trailer
film profile]), Ruaidhri Conroy (Hart’s War), David Wilmot (Intermission) and Aisling O’Sullivan (The War Zone).

When accepting his Oscar, McDonagh said: "I'd just like to thank everybody who was involved in the film, especially Brendan Gleeson and Ruaidhri Conroy. And Ruaidhri, I'm sorry that you couldn't be here tonight, but I hope next time if they let you into the country...."

Commenting on the award, Simon Perry, new Head of the IFB, said: "It’s excellent to see a new filmmaker like this winning a top award with a film that is really fresh and arresting rather than something more traditional. It’s a tribute to the Irish government for their enlightened support of our film industry".

Produced in the UK by Mia Bays’s Missing In Action films and Kenton Allen’s Funny Farm Film, with Irish co-producer John McDonnell of Fantastic Films (Song For a Raggy Boy), Six Shooter was released by Shorts International and Magnolia Pictures in cinemas across the UK and the US and can be purchased through iTunes.