Home | KIFF - Kerry International Film Festival

The Kerry International Film Festival 2022 programme is now live!

This year’s festival will take place from Oct 20 – 23, in Killarney & Dingle.
Please click below to see the full schedule and buy tickets.

KIFF 2023 AWARD WINNERS

TAKING FLIGHT, RISING TALENT AWARD, sponsored by Kerry Airport Ireland – Hannah Mamalis.

KIFF 2023 Maureen O’ Hara Award – Eileen Walsh.

BEST OF KERRY, Sponsored by Virgin Media – Two for the Road, Written and Directed by Lochlainn McKenna

BEST INTERNATIONAL NARRATIVE SHORT – Sponsored by The Plaza Hotel – Spoor, Directed by Sunita Soliar & Statten Roeg

BEST ANIMATION – Pinokidoki, Written, Directed and Produced by Jack C.

BEST STUDENT SHORT – Harvest, Directed by Sophia Seymour

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE – sponsored by Randles Hotel – Paddy Mulcahy for Songs of Blood and Destiny.

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE – Secrets From Putomayo, Directed by Aurélio Michiles

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT – Echo, Directed by Ross McClean

BEST IRISH NARRATIVE SHORT – sponsored by the Great Southern Hotel – Jill And Lill Do Knick Knacks, Directed by Keith Jordan

BEST NARRATIVE FEATURE – Sponsored by Screen Ireland – Verdigris, Directed by Patricia Kelly

SCREENWRITING AWARD – Eyes to Listen, Hands to Speak, Written by Cathriona Slammon. Honourable Mentions: Toucan, Written by Eoin Joseph Duncum and Noa’s Place, Written by Maria Romanova-Hynes

TRUA AWARD – Myles O’Reilly, The Streets Where You Live

Winners 2022

KIFF 2022 Maureen O’ Hara Award – Amy Huberman

BEST OF KERRY – Not My Sister. Director, Jessica Courtney Leen

BEST INTERNATIONAL NARRATIVE SHORT – WanderLand, Director, Nicole Pott

BEST ANIMATION – Before Her Body Left, Director Yuxin Yang

BEST STUDENT SHORT – Sucking Diesel, Director Sam McGrath

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE – Don’t Go Where I Can’t Find You, Score by, Benedict Schlepper-Connolly and Garett Sholdice, known as Ergodos

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE – And Still I Sing, Director Fazila Amiri

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT – My Name Is Joseph, Director Sean AMurray

BEST IRISH NARRATIVE SHORT – Burn It All, Director, Jack Hickey

BEST NARRATIVE FEATURE – Lakelands. Directors, Robert Higgins and Patrick McGiveny

SCREENWRITING AWARD – At the Foot of a Mountain, At the Edge of the World – Eoin Joseph Duncum. Special Recommendation, Sleeper by Gavin McClenaghan

TRUA AWARD – Film Producer and Programmer, Mira Oyetoro

TAKING FLIGHT, RISING TALENT AWARD, supported by Kerry Airport. – Laura O’Shea

KIFF IS DELIGHTED TO ANNOUNCE THAT THE 2023 RECIPIENT OF THE PRESTIGIOUS MAUREEN O’HARA AWARD IS EILEEN WALSH

It might be argued that Eileen Walsh is the finest Irish actor working today. Since her breakthrough performance two decades ago in the original stage production of Enda Walsh’s seminal play Disco Pigs, the Cork-born actress has carved a formidable niche for herself as a fearless performer, burning up both stage and screen. From a heartbreaking turn in The Magdeline Sisters to her soulfully stinging comic brilliance in Sharon Horgan and Rob Delaney’s Catastrophe and recent theatrical triumph in Marina Carr’s monumental Girl on an Altar, Walsh’s body of work is marked by its eclectic nature and her natural empathy for an array of different characters, each unique and unforgettable in their own right. Next year, she reunites with her Disco Pigs co-star, Cillian Murphy, for the eagerly anticipated screen version of Claire Keegan’s novel Small Things Like These. Walsh has two brilliant (and very different) pieces screening at this year’s KIFF.

As the narrator of Trish McAdam’s Songs of Blood and Destiny she delivers a stoic performance, firmly grounding Marina Carr’s epically intimate take on a variety of iconic historical figures. She also shines in The Golden West, a gorgeous short from the makers of Oscar-winner An Irish Goodbye, where Walsh spars with talented Kerry-native, Aoife Duffin, as one of two sisters fleeing the Famine for America, hellbent on finding their fortune during the gold rush. One of our finest artists and performers, we’re humbled to honour Eileen Walsh’s ongoing contribution to screen craft at this year’s KIFF. She joins an illustrious group of previous recipients as a most worthy addition to a formidable line-up of supremely talented women. We’re delighted that Eileen will join us on Friday night at Randles Hotel to accept the Maureen O’Hara award and discuss her bold and brilliant career to date.

Upon receiving the award, Eileen reacted:
“There’s a photo of me and my sister Bernadette sitting on a picnic bench. I had taken a chunk of my communion money and bought a beige t-shirt and matching skirt. I pulled my knee socks up and smiled for the camera. My parents had brought us for a day trip to see The Quiet Man house. I thought I was as beautiful as she as I sat on the picnic table. My dad insisted he’d try the healthy water spring which smelt awful and tasted worse, although through his twisted face and appalled eyes he squeezed out the words “Ah it’s not that bad”. I’m so delighted to receive this Maureen O’Hara award, her films are one thing but her lasting friendships and continued collaborations with directors and actors is a thing to admire and aspire to. As a proud Cork woman I’m only sorry it’s the Kingdom of Kerry that got there first to give me such an award. Míle Buíochas, Eileen”

KIFF NEWS

Best International Narrative Short

Title: Leopard

Director: James Arden

Synopsis: Rocky, a London teenager, begins to question the strict routine set by her father – as well as deeper feelings about her own identity – after meeting a free-spirited girl in a local launderette.

Producers: James Arden & Poppy Ashton

Best Irish Narrative Short

Title: Rough
Directors: Declan Lawn & Adam Patterson.

Synopsis: “Rough” is a film about a dog sentenced to death by gangsters, but it’s also a film about those who have been forgotten by Northern Ireland’s peace process. For some, the conflict in Northern Ireland never really ended.
Producer: Louise Gallagher.

Best Animation

Title: GON, The Little Fox
Director: Takeshi Yashiro
Synopsis: Gon, a playful fox, finds Hyoju has lost his mother for his own earlier mischiefs and starts making amends by secretly bringing gifts to Hyojyu. Hyojyu doesn’t realize who brings the anonymous gifts, and the two are headed for a heartbreaking climax.
Producer: Masaaki Oikawa

Best Student Short

Title: My Other Suit Is Human
Director: Andrew Paul Montague
Synopsis: Zoe, grieving for her deceased son, has become distant from her emotionally unavailable husband who buries himself in work. Dealing with her grief alone, she seeks refuge in the form of a homemade robot suit. Slowly, she starts to rediscover herself and her marriage.
Producer: Kira Fitzpatrick

Best Narrative Feature

Title: Follow the Dead
Director: Adam William Cahill
Synopsis: The remote town of Ferbane struggles to react when no one seems able to communicate with Dublin City anymore, and videos that have surfaced online suggest that the capital has succumb to an undead threat, and danger may be on its way!
Producer: Adam William Cahill

Best of Kerry

Title: Bó
Director: Mieke Vanmecheleny
Synopsis: The Kerry cow is the oldest cow in existence in Europe. Ireland’s special association with these animals goes back thousands of years. Currently endangered, a small number of individuals are doing their utmost to preserve the breed. Bó is an intimate account of the bonds that exist between the farmers and their animals.
Producer: Mieke Vanmechelen

Best of Kerry

Title: The West Kerry Cowboy
Director: Cian O’Connor
Synopsis: Big Mac and his dad Frank live a lonely life in the heart of West Kerry. After his mother’s death, Big Mac falls into a secretive world. On the day of her anniversary, Big Mac has a confession to make. This film is a comedy drama about masculinity and grief.
Producers: Peter Kilmartin

Best Documentary

Title: VIOLET GIBSON, The Irish Woman Who Shot Mussolini
Directors: Barrie Dowdall
& Kevin de la Isla O’Neill
Synopsis: The true and forgotten story of Violet Gibson, daughter of the Lord Chancellor to Ireland, who shot fascist dictator Benito Mussolini at point-blank range as she faced a Fascist mob in Rome in 1926.
Producers: Siobhán Lynam & Barrie Dowdall