Acclaimed Irish language film An Cailín Ciúin has won the Audience Award at the 2022 Virgin Media Dublin International Film Festival.
The debut feature from the husband and wife team of director Colm Bairéad and producer Cleona Ní Chrualaoi stars newcomer Catherline Clinch, Carrie Crowley and Andrew Bennett and is a delicate coming-of-age drama explores questions of family, neglect and loss through the eyes of its young protagonist.
The film opened the 12-day festival, which celebrated its 20th anniversary this year, and was also a winner with the critics, receiving the gong for Best Irish Film at the Dublin Film Critics Circle (DFCC) Awards announced on Sunday.
Bairéad was also a recipient of this year's Aer Lingus Discovery Award.
The film’s producer and director said: "We are thrilled that An Cailín Ciúin has won this year's Audience Award at the Virgin Media Dublin International Film Festival!
"To receive this recognition from a home audience means the world to us. Buíochas ó chroí to everyone who voted and a heartfelt thank you to Gráinne Humphreys and all the VMDIFF team for introducing our film to Irish audiences for the first time!"
Festival audiences also voted in a clean sweep of Irish films in their top ten favourite films with eight Irish documentaries and two Irish language features with An Cailín Ciúin topping the polls.
Other favourites throughout the festival included Vortex, which won the Best Film category at the DFCC Awards; Three Minutes, A Lengthening, which won the Festival Documentary Competition, and Young Plato, which won the Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL) Human Rights Film Award.
