Oh what a night... the eighth Annual IFTA Awards took place last night (Saturday 12 February) and the stars of Irish film and Television donned the glad rags to walk the red carpet in Dublin's stunning new Convention Centre.
The recession was momentarily put on hold as an unending stream of beautifully dressed men and women encompassed the building. The red carpet transformed into a sea of colour as the stunning array of gunas were unveiled once the guests made it through the revolving doors. The predominant trends were white, metallics, sequins, bold colours, black and one-shoulder dresses, with a lot of red lips on show and a surprising amount of short dresses given the Black Tie event.
Amy Huberman, Caroline Morahan, Charlene McKenna and Saoirse Ronan all looked stunning as did many more ladies on the night but see what you think here...
Check out all the style in our galleries.
After prep, hair and make-up, the RTÉ TEN team arrived on the red carpet for 3.45pm to set up our camera's and settle in for the exciting mayhem ahead. We were one of the first to arrive and the plastic was still in place in the ruby red carpet. The convention centre was certainly one of the most glamorous characters of the night, the sublime lighting, inviting carpet and generous space was the perfect setting for the glamourous event ahead.
Guests began arriving shortly before six and things went from zero to one hundred in a matter of minutes as the hectic but wonderful spree of conveyor belt interviews began. Of course Pierce Brosnan, Kim Cattrall, Brendan Gleeson, Joely Richardson were most in demand along with a host of other Irish Film and Television stars. People eagerly queued up to have their pics taken for our galleries and to have a chat ahead of the awards.
You'll see them all here in our RTÉ TEN galleries.
Once inside, guests were buzzing about the stunning stage – it was the closest to an Oscars setting as the IFTA's has ever been, all kitted out with giant sized replicas of the beautiful golden statuettes. The auditorium seating was also more akin to the Oscars than the table setting of previous years in the RDS or Burlington Hotel. The Gaiety was also a previous home of the awards however this time around, there was ample room over two floors for guests to convene for refreshments or the powder room without unending queues.
Simon Delaney did a wonderful job as host of the ceremony. In contrast to the controversial turn of Ricky Gervais as the Golden Globes host, Delaney was as he promised in a recent interview in the RTÉ Guide, completely different. He was warm, natural and welcoming regardless of whether the cameras were rolling or not. Plus he was complimentary of the Irish Film and Television industries at a time where the industry needs all the support it can get.
With the Gleesons, Brendan and his two sons Domhnall and Brian, nominated for five awards, Delaney joked that the IFTA's could be renamed the 'Gleesons'! He was right on the money when Brendan ended up accepting not one but two awards on behalf of Domhnall who is currently in Berlin. He got a great reaction when he said of his son winning the 'Rising Star' award: "I'm not so sure about 'Rising Star'. I could never get him up in the morning!"
Before adding: "I'm very proud of him and I'm sure he's very proud to receive this, thank you very much."
Ahead of the ceremony, many of the guests spoke highly of the Recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award, producer Morgan O'Sullivan, who gave a wonderful speech. He is such a fantastic ambassador for the Film and Television industries. In his smooth broadcasting voice, he thanked those who helped him in his career, especially his wife Liz and his two daughters – although despite his sixty-five-years, he revealed that he has no intention of retiring just yet. He also tipped his hat to the IFTA host, Simon, as did a number of the guest presenters.
The Irish politicians and bankers were criticised numerous times throughout the night however during his speech, O'Sullivan redressed the balance. He complimented Michael D Higgins who, as the then Minister for Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht (1993 – 1997), helped to establish the film tax incentive, Section 35 which opened the door for O'Sullivan to bring films such as 'Braveheart' and 'Saving Private Ryan' to our shores.
President Mary McAleese did the nation proud with a wonderful, eloquent speech about the importance of the industries work in the heart, minds and homes of the people and she received a hearty, genuine round of applause in return. A few politicians could do well to take a leaf or two out of her book.
Hats off to Juanita Wilson who deservedly pulled a hat-trick winning Best Film Script, Director and Film for 'As If I'm Not There' and spoke effortlessly well as she accepted each award.
In general the winners kept their speeches quite short and apart from the guest presenters, no one relied on notes which showed that people were either very humble or very well rehearsed.
Kim Cattrell seemed to enjoy the cheeky Tommy Tiernan who referred to the fact that he was the third Navan man on stage (following Pierce Brosnan and Hector Ó hEochagáin) before then teasing the former for having lost his accent. There were a number of quite unusually polished accents adopted once people took to the stage – it can't be an easy job to stand up on stage in front of your peers, still it was noted and it was quite bizarre.
From chatting to friends and family watching the IFTA's at home, something that was all too obvious for TV viewers was the number of empty seats throughout the ceremony. I can tell you that at the beginning of the evening almost all of those seats were taken but perhaps as the night wore on, as the stomachs became more empty and the tongues more dry, people may have run out at various intervals.
The song and dance show opener accompanied by Simon Delaney's singing was very Hollywood, and I think the audience would have enjoyed a little more of same.
Once the ceremony finished, the sight of hundreds of guests in floor length gowns and tuxedos flowing down numerous escalators to the ballroom on the ground floor, was like something out of a film. It was a wonderful scene and given the twilight hour, it was surprisingly sober and civilised!
By that time, everyone was ravenous. As with most awards shows, despite everyone's best efforts, the evening was very, very long, for those watching at home as much as those present.
By the time everyone was seated at their various dinner tables in the sprawling ballroom, people were both starving and exhausted. However after a gorgeous meal and a glass or two, everyone was happy to relax and catch up with the peers they missed earlier in the evening. While the dance floor didn't exactly endure a stampede, people seemed happy to relax, unwind and soak up the atmosphere until the lights went on and the room cleared out at around 2.30am. Roll on the Oscars on Sunday 27 February!
Taragh Loughrey-Grant
