Big winners included Cillian Murphy and That They May Face the Rising Sun
By Brian Bowe
The 21st Irish Film & Television Academy (IFTA) Awards took place last April, which can only mean one thing: Finally! The awards season has come to an end.
Cillian Murphy rounded off his seemingly never-ending awards campaign with a win on home soil, hooray! Not one for the limelight, the Cork man can now put his feet up for a while, count his newly acquired silverware and fight off all those fresh Hollywood offers attempting to leech off his Oscar glow. Resist! Murphy as a Marvel superhero is not something I’d ever care to see. Though the boy would look quite dashing in a cape, I’ll admit.
Accepting his IFTA award for his exceptional performance as Robert J. Oppenheimer in Chrishopher Nolan’s summer mega blockbuster, Murphy said: “There are so many people here I admire… It made me think of being here and being a young actor and getting so much encouragement from so many people… a lot of love and encouragement. People call it showbusiness but it feels like a community when it’s done well.”
Murphy was presented with his Best Actor prize by Killers of the Flower Moon star Lily Gladstone. I’ll be honest, I did not expect the American actress to attend the IFTA Awards. No one did. I mean, it’s very rare we get any international nominees actually show up. “I’ve wanted to come to Ireland for over 20 years,” she told red carpet journalists. I can only hope that the Academy treated her to a quality dinner (do they have Nandos in the States?) and high-end accommodation, because she left the ceremony empty-handed, losing out to Emma Stone, who picked up Best International Actress for her Oscar winning performance in Yorgos Lanthimos’ Poor Things, produced by Irish company Element Pictures. Stone wasn’t in attendance, of course, but presumably was delighted the following morning while sifting through her post.
That They May Face the Rising Sun, Pat Collins’ critically acclaimed adaptation of John McGahern’s final novel, which was recently named best Irish film at the Dublin International Film Festival, won the IFTA prize for Best Film. The drama stars Barry Ward and features a very strong performance from Lalor Roddy (one of the best Irish actors working today). It’s a gentle tale examining a year in the life of a rural community. It’s the type of film that would suit a double bill alongside 2022’s An Cailín Ciúin. Collins, who up till now has built a career in documentary film, was typically self-effacing when accepting his award. “Whatever about me, we wouldn’t be here without the book John McGahern wrote,” he said before thanking the writer’s widow. “Thank you to Madeline McGahern who I met six or seven years ago and who gave her blessing to it.”
The internet’s favourite son, Paul Mescal won Best Supporting Actor for his performance in the Andrew Scott-led All of Us Strangers, but couldn’t make it to the ceremony. Sure, we’ll let him off easy, he’s a busy boy of late, soon to be appearing in Ridley Scott’s Gladiator 2. Another member of the Sally Rooney Cinematic Universe, Alison Oliver took Best Supporting Actress for her fine turn in Emerald Fennell’s buzzy Saltburn. “Sadly Alison can’t be here tonight, but I’m going to give her a really good rate on this,” quipped presenter Baz Ashmawy, statuette in hand.
Lies We Tell, Lisa Mulcahy’s adaptation of J Sheridan Le Fanu’s Uncle Silas, proved the big winner of the night, taking home three awards including the Best Actress prize for Agnes O’Casey, great granddaughter of Sean O’Casey, getting the nod over stiff competitors Jessie Buckley, Eve Hewson and Saoirse Ronan. A tearful O’Casey took to the podium: “This means so much to me. I want to say that this is actually for my grandma Siobhán, she brought me to the theatre, she’s at home with a broken leg… everything I do in my career will always be linked to you. You gave me the best gift.”
Neil Jordan presented the Lifetime Achievement award to Stephen Rea. In a video package, Cillian Murphy called the legendary actor “one of the greatest people I know” and Jessie Buckley described him as a “beautiful, poetic man”. “This is a most prestigious award. If it happened a little later it could have been a posthumous award,” he said before paying tribute to “inspired cultural minister” Michael D Higgins and to the charity UNICEF.
At the other end of their career, Siobhán Cullen was named the Screen Ireland Rising Star. The Dublin actress, best known for starring in RTÉ’s The Dry, seemed genuinely surprised while accepting her award, saying, “I totally wasn’t expecting it. Thanks so much IFTA for just including me in this category.” If you’re curious to see what heights this Rising Star can reach I recommend you check out the mini-series Bodkin, which recently topped Irish Netflix charts.
The IFTAs, presented this year by Baz Ashmawy, is supported by Fis Éireann/Screen Ireland, RTÉ and Coimisiún na Meán.
