The Virgin Media Dublin International Film Festival (VMDIFF) has announced the recipients of a selection of awards for this year's ceremony.
At a special awards event on Sunday, the winners of the Aer Lingus Discovery Award, Short Film and Documentary category winners, as well as the Irish Council of Civil Liberties (ICCL) Human Rights Film Award were unveiled.
Directors Colm Bairéad, Kate Dolan and Rioghnach Ní Ghrioghair have been selected as recipients of the Aer Lingus Discovery Award which aims to champion, support and encourage new and emerging talent from both in front and behind the camera.
The judging panel said of choosing the winners: "All of this year's nominees delivered consistently high-quality work in this year's Aer Lingus Discovery section, however it was a unanimous decision for the jury regarding the three standouts we chose.
"Colm Bairéad’s debut feature An Cailín Ciúin, is a masterful character study that has rightly won international recognition is putting Irish cinema on the map in a unique and individual way, using our native language to tell stories with sensitivity and cinematic craft that moved us all."
"Kate Dolan has amassed an impressive body of work over the last years. You Are Not My Mother is her debut feature. Hers is a clear, coherent artistic voice and it is important that we encourage and celebrate this clear-eyed original voice in Irish cinema.
"Viewing Rioghnach Ní Ghrioghair’s shorts, her progression as a film maker was evident through each film we viewed, culminating in Don’t Go Where I Can’t Find You - an extremely assured distinctive authored film, indicating a bright writing directing future ahead."
The judges said of the Short Films awards, which went to a diverse selection of titles: "We were bowled over by the talent and craft on display from live-action, documentary, and animation. Ireland’s film scene is in fine fettle."
An Encounter was named as Best Irish Short, with the judges calling it a "stunning, moving, and beautiful work; so evocative and poetic, with incredible performances from its young leads, and one which heralds the beginning of a great directing talent in Kelly Campbell."
Best International Short went to Turkish director Can Merdan Dogan for Stiletto - A Pink Family Tragedy, which they described as a "brave, deeply moving, surprising and genuinely thrilling look at how profound and unexpected change is possible."
Bianca Stigter’s powerful testament to life before the Holocaust, Three Minutes, A Lengthening (Netherlands) was awarded Best Documentary.
The jury praised director Stigter "for the magnetic visual treatment of the images of the 1938 found footage of David Kurtz by his grandchild Glenn Kurtz and for the resonating implications of the testimonies of the survivors during the film, all of them made off camera with an impacting voice over, bringing back to life the lost voices of a lost community in Poland during WWII."
The ICCL Human Rights Award was awarded to documentary Young Plato directed by Neasa Ní Chianáin and Declan McGrath.
Young Plato tells the story of maverick headmaster Kevin McArevey in Belfast’s Ardoyne area, who uses the wisdoms of Ancient Greek philosophers to rethink conflict and social change.
The jury "loved the focus of the power of education of Young Plato as well as how timely it was in the context of Brexit as peoples lives and rights are once again affected by the geopolitical context."
The 20th Virgin Media Dublin International Film Festival runs until 6 March with a packed programme of cinema screenings, Q&As, industry events alongside a selection of films also available online.
For further information visit www.diff.ie.
