CORK INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL 2024 WRAPS UP WITH FILM AWARDS ANNOUNCEMENTS
OVER 17,000 FILMGOERS ATTEND THE 69TH EDITION ACROSS 11 DAYS IN CORK
THE FESTIVAL ALSO ANNOUNCES PRESTIGIOUS ‘AUDENTIA’ AWARD FOR FEMALE FILMMAKER WORTH €30,000 IN 2025 TO MARK ITS 70TH EDITION
18th November 2024, Cork City: Cork International Film Festival (CIFF) concluded last night after 11 days of bringing the best in Irish and international film to Cork, with multiple World and Irish premieres. Over 17,000 people attended more than 220 films and events during the Festival. Some events are continuing, including Doc Day Online (free) and Dropped Frames, the solo exhibition by the Parallax Emerging FIlm Artist Asha Murray at the Lord Mayor’s Pavilion, Cork.
The Festival has just announced the Audience Awards 2024 for Features and Shorts:
- The Audience Award (Features) goes to Blue Road: The Edna O’Brien Story, directed by Sinéad O’Shea.
- The Audience Award (Shorts) goes to Setanta & Jim Cullen, directed by Jack Desmond and Cian Desmond.
To mark its 70th edition in 2025, Cork International Film Festival is honoured to have been selected for the presentation of the prestigious Audentia Award, in partnership with the Council of Europe’s Eurimages Fund. Meaning “courage” and “bravery” in Latin, the Audentia Award was created by Eurimages to promote greater gender equality in the European film industry and includes a prize of €30,000 for a female filmmaker to invest in her next feature. The Festival will announce the winner during its 70th edition in November 2025.
The Festival also announced a slate of award-winners over the past weekend, after welcoming hundreds of international filmmakers and industry professionals to the largest and longest-running film Festival in Ireland.
The Best New Irish Feature Award, proudly supported by the Irish Examiner, went to Blue Road: The Edna O’Brien Story by Sinéad O’Shea. Announced at the Festival’s Awards Gala on Saturday, 16th November, the jury commented: “It has been an honour to witness the incredible depth and diversity of talent emerging from Ireland. After much deliberation, we unanimously selected Blue Road: The Edna O’Brien Story as this year’s winner. This film stands out for its masterful storytelling, which is both sensitive and evocative, offering a heartfelt yet humorous exploration of Edna O’Brien’s remarkable life and literary legacy.”
The jury gave an honourable mention to The Damned, directed by Thordur Palsson.
The Gradam Spiorad Na Féile/Spirit of the Festival Award for Best Film went to The Village Next to Paradise, directed by Mo Harawe. “The jury felt that this European Film, which was paradoxically the first Somali film selected for the Cannes Film Festival, offered an authentic, singular and quietly powerful portrait of a Somalian family.”
The Jury gave an honourable mention for The Imminent Age (l’Edat Imminent) by the Vigilia Collective.
The Gradam Spiorad Na Féile/Spirit of The Festival Award for Best Screenplay, announced on Saturday 16th November as Arcadia (screenplay by Konstantina Kotzamani and Yorgos Zois). “The jury has been stunned by a complex and eclectic story that constantly pushes boundaries between life and death and raises the question of the mise en scene of the invisible.”
The Gradam Na Féile Do Scannáin Faisnéise/Award for Best Documentary goes to A Family (Une Famille) by Christine Angot. “For a raw and confrontational film, a personal intervention that confronts both the violence of the past and the present with the force of language.”
The Cork International Film Festival Lookout Award, announced at the Closing Gala on Sunday 17th November, went to When the Light Breaks, by Rúnar Rúnarsson. It was chosen by the Festival’s Youth Jury composed of students from UCC, MTU and Cork College of FET Douglas Street Campus, who said “Our winner expressed a uniquely compelling story highlighting the nuances of grief and love that captured our eyes, minds and hearts.” The Jury also offered an honourable mention to Universal Language.
On Thursday 14th November, the Festival announced its 2024 Short Award winners and the 2025 Parallax Emerging Film Artist Bursary Award recipient. The awards for Grand Prix Irish Short, Grand Prix International Short and Grand Prix Documentary Short Award are Academy Award®-qualifying, ensuring that the winners in Cork automatically join the 2026 Oscars®’ long-list.
Grand Prix Irish Short Award: Clodagh directed by Portia A. Buckley
Special mention: Parish by Eoin Heaney
Grand Prix International Short Award: Transylvanie directed by Rodrigue Huart
Special mention: Duty Free by Hilke Rönnfeldt
Grand Prix Documentary Short Award: Man Number 4 directed by Miranda Pennell
Special mentions: Friedl by Christiana Perschon and Southern Brides by Elena López Riera
Best Director: Irish Short Award: Farmers!? directed by Freddie Leyden
Best Cork Short Award: Breakfast Roll directed by Remi Alfallah, Shannon Haly
Short Film Candidate for the European Film Awards 2025: Man Number 4 directed by Miranda Pennell
2025 Parallax Emerging Film Artist Bursary recipient: Sarah Lou Kinneen
2024 Festival:
- 116 Irish and international features and documentaries
- More than 105 Irish and international shorts
- Screenings at 10 venues across Cork City and county, including: Arc Cinema, The Everyman, Triskel, St Peters, Lord Mayor’s Pavilion, The Reel Picture Ballincollig and Blackpool, The Gate Cinemas Midleton and Mallow, Regal Cinema Youghal, Cinemax Bantry
- 6 galas (Conclave, Blue Road: The Edna O’Brien Story, Fox and Hare Save the Forest, Nightbitch, The Making of a Japanese, and Rumours)
The 69th Cork International Film Festival ran from Thursday 7th to Sunday 17th November, 2024. Visit corkfilmfest.org.
