The 36th edition of the Galway Film Fleadh has come to an end after another outstanding year. With sold out screenings across the festival programme the Fleadh featured 94 feature films and over 100 short films featuring the best of Irish and World Cinema. 

The annual awards ceremony took place on Sunday 14th of July before the closing film, To A Land Unknownfrom director Mahdi Fleifel, which follows Chatila and Reda who are saving to pay for fake passports to get out of Athens. 

The winner of Best Irish Film, in association with Danu Media was KNEECAP, written and directed by Rich Peppiat and produced by Trevor Birney, Jack Tarling, Patrick O’Neill. KNEECAP In this fiercely original sex, drugs, and hip-hop biopic, KNEECAP play themselves, with Academy- Award-nominee® Michael Fassbender in tow, laying down a global rallying cry for the defence of native cultures. In an overwhelming response from the voting public, KNEECAP also won the Audience Award and the Irish Language Feature Film Award, a feat that has never happened at the Fleadh in 36 years. 

Winning Best Irish First Feature was Fidil Ghorm directed by Anne McCabe, written by Patricia Forde and produced by Pierce Boyce and Bríd Seoighe. A captivating drama, Fidil Ghorm tells the story of 10-year-old Molly, who believes that if she learns to play the fiddle like her dad, she can wake him up from a coma.  

Housewife of the Year, won the Best Irish documentary award, directed by Ciaran Cassidy and produced by Maria Horgan and Colum McKeown. Housewife of the Year tells the story of Ireland’s treatment of women through the prism of a unique, surreal, live-televised competition, that must be seen to be believed.  

Awards for 2024 are as follows:

Galway Hooker Award

Brian Cox – For his contribution on the stage, the small screen and the big screen

Best International Short Animation

LIZZIE AND THE SEA
Director/Writer: Mariacarla Norall
Producers: Maria Carolina Terzi, Lorenza Stella, Carlo Stella.
Lead animators: Ivana Verze, Viola Cecere

Best International Short Fiction

THE MASTERPIECE
Director: Alex Lora
Producers: Josemaria Martinez, Álex Lora Cercos, Néstor López, Lluis Quilez,
Writers: Lluis Quilez, Alfonso Amador

Best International Short Documentary

FRIENDS ON THE OUTSIDE
Director/Writer: Annabel Moodie
Producer: Lea Luiz de Oliveira

Best First Short Animation Award with Brown Bag Films

HEADING HOME
Director/Producer/Writer: Holly Langan
Lead animator: Holly Langan

James Flynn Award for Best First Short Drama

WIFE OF THE FUTURE
Director/Writer: Rory Hanrahan
Producer: Louise Byrne

Donal Gilligan Award for Best Cinematography in a Short Film with the Irish Society Cinematographers (ISC)

ALL THAT’S CARRIED
Cinematographer: Albert Hooi
Director: Rosie Barrett Producers: Laura Rigney, Eimear Reilly
Writer: Eimear Reilly

Peripheral Visions Award with Galway Cultural Company (presented by Marilyn Gaughan)

POISON
Director: Désirée Nosbusch (Luxemburg, Netherlands, UK)
Producers: Alexandra Hoesdorff, Désirée Nosbusch, Petra Goedings, Maaike Benschop, Vivien Müller-Rommel
Writer: Lot Vekemans

Generation Jury Award

AMAL
Director: Jawad Rhalib (Belgium)
Producers: Geneviève Lemal, Ellen de Waele
Writers: Jawad Rhalib, David Lambert, Chloé Leonil

Best International Film

THE TEACHER
Director/Writer: Farah Nabulsi
Producer: Sawsan Asfari Himani

Best International Documentary

INTERCEPTED
Director/Writer: Oksana Karpovych (Canada, France, Ukraine)
Producers: Giacomo Nudi, Rocío B. Fuentes, Pauline Tran Van Lieu, Lucie Rego, Darya Bassel, Olha Beskhmelnytsina

Best Cinematography in an Irish Film with Teach Solais (presented by Cian de Buitléar)

ODDITY
Cinematographer: Colm Hogan

Best Marketplace Project Award with Bankside Films

Project Name: Fairies Don’t Exist
Name: Michael O’Neill & Jude Sharvin, Armchair & Rocket – Northern Ireland

Bingham Ray New Talent Award with Magnolia Pictures

EVA BIRTHISTLE for her directorial debut, Kathleen Is Here

Best Irish Language Feature Film

KNEECAP
Director/Writer: Rich Peppiatt
Producers: Trevor Birney, Jack Tarling, Patrick O’Neill

The Pitching Award with Wild Atlantic Pictures

Project Name: Dons Life Goes On
Name: Zoe Gibney

James Horgan Award for Best Animation with Animation Ireland (presented by Moe Honan)

TO BREAK A CIRCLE
Director: Kalia Firester
Producers: Tim Bryans,Andrea McQuade, Lee McQuade
Writers: Kalia Firester, Dara McWade
Lead animator: Cora McKenna

Best Independent Film Award

THE SONG CYCLE
Director/Writer/Producer: Nick Kelly

Best Short Documentary Award with TG4 (presented by Lís Ní Dhálaigh)

JOINT AWARD
WE BEG TO DIFFER
Director/Writer: Ruairi Bradley
Producers: Thomas Purdy, Ruairi Bradley
AND
AFTER THE BOMB
Director/Writer/Producer: Heather Brumley

Tiernan McBride Award for Best Short Drama

TURNAROUND
Director/Writer: Aisling Byrne
Producer: Killian Coyle

Best Irish Feature Documentary

HOUSEWIFE OF THE YEAR
Director: Ciaran Cassidy
Producers: Maria Horgan, Colum McKeown

Best Irish First Feature with Element Pictures (presented by Charlene Lydon)

FIDIL GHORM
Director: Anne McCabe
Producers: Pierce Boyce, Bríd Seoighe
Writer: Patricia Forde

Best Irish Film with Danu Media (presented by Louise Richardson)

KNEECAP
Director/Writer: Rich Peppiatt
Producers: Trevor Birney, Jack Tarling, Patrick O’Neill

Best Audience Award

KNEECAP
Director/Writer: Rich Peppiatt
Producers: Trevor Birney, Jack Tarling, Patrick O’Neill

World Cinema Competition

To Follow 

The Galway Film Fleadh is supported by the Arts Council, Screen Ireland, Creative Europe Media, TG4, Coimisiún na Meán, Northern Ireland Screen, Fáilte Ireland and Galway City Council.  

 

Principal funder