The Kerry Film Festival has announced that Fionnula Flanagan will receive the Maureen O'Hara Award at this year's festival.
Commenting, the stage and screen star said: "I am delighted and very honoured to be invited to receive the Maureen O'Hara Award at the Kerry Film Festival 2011. It is fitting and generous of Maureen to lend her name to an award that acknowledges the work of actresses following in her footsteps.
"I am proud to be able to support the Kerry Film Festival since in these troubling economic times, not just for Ireland, but for the whole world, I believe it is important to keep the arts alive. It is the painters, the poets, the storytellers, the film makers who give us all a different way of looking at life, who remind us of our frailty, our longing, and our potential."
O'Hara added: "I will be thrilled to present Fionnula Flanagan with this year's award at the Kerry Film Festival. It's a pleasure to honour such a remarkable actress who epitomises all that the award has come to represent over the last four years."
Past recipients of the award include Juliette Binoche, Rebecca Miller, and Brenda Fricker.
The Kerry Film Festival runs from October 29 to November 5. For full details of the festival programme, visit: www.kerryfilmfestival.com.
