Emily Watson won Best Supporting Performance at the Berlin International Film Festival at the weekend for her role as Sister Mary opposite Cillian Murphy in the new Irish film Small Things Like These, an adaptation of the Claire Keegan bestseller of the same name.
Variety reports that when she accepted the award in the German capital on Saturday night, Watson said: "I had a front-row seat watching Cillian Murphy unravel, and it was truly a privilege. He had a dream that I was going to be in the movie, and here I am.
"Of course, I can't stand here without talking of the thousands and thousands of young women whose lives were devastated by the collusion between the Catholic Church and the State in Ireland."
Set in an Irish town at Christmas 1985, Small Things Like These follows fuel merchant Bill Furlong (Murphy) as he discovers secrets about his homeplace and his own life. It was filmed in Wexford, Wicklow, and Dublin last year.
Murphy is among the producers of the film, which opened the Berlin International Film Festival earlier this month to great acclaim.
Small Things Like These reunites Murphy with Peaky Blinders director Tim Mielants, and the script has been written by one of Murphy's longtime collaborators, the playwright Enda Walsh. The cast also includes Eileen Walsh and Michelle Fairley.
The film has received backing from Fís Éireann/Screen Ireland and is the first feature from Murphy and production partner Alan Moloney's Big Things Films. Ben Affleck and Matt Damon's company Artists Equity (AE) is also a producer.
Keegan's book Foster was the basis for the Oscar-nominated Irish-language film An Cailín Ciúin (The Quiet Girl), which was an award winner in Berlin in 2022.
Small Things Like These will open in Irish cinemas later this year.
The Berlin competition winners:
Golden Bear for Best Film
Dahomey, Mati Diop
Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize
A Traveler's Needs, Hong Sangsoo
Silver Bear Jury Prize
The Empire, Bruno Dumont
Silver Bear for Best Director
Pepe, Nelson Carlos De Los Santos Arias
Silver Bear for Best Leading Performance
A Different Man, Sebastian Stan
Silver Bear for Best Supporting Performance
Small Things Like These, Emily Watson
Silver Bear for Best Screenplay
Dying, Matthias Glasner
Silver Bear for Outstanding Artistic Contribution
The Devil's Bath, Martin Gschlacht, cinematography
