Awards Scroll | KIFF - Kerry International Film Festival

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

Winners 2023

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

Winners 2021

BEST INTERNATIONAL NARRATIVE SHORT – Habit
Director, Kevin W. Koehler
Producer, Jeff Kopchia, Matt Dooley, Nathan Scherrer, Jonathan Craven, Ben Piety, Kim Koehler

BEST IRISH NARRATIVE SHORT – Debutante
Director & Producer Kamila Dydyna

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT – Best Foot Forward
Director, Seán Hart
Producer, Bill McHugh and Seán Hart

BEST STUDENT SHORT supported by SCREEN IRELAND – Another Day in 98
Director, Timotej Baca
Producer, Jan Jakub Osiński & Ashling Sugrue

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE – The Passion
Director, Mia Mullarkey
Producer, Roisin Geraghty
Composer, Anna Mullarkey

BEST OF KERRY – Harvest
Director, Tristan Heanue
Producer, Ronan Cassidy

BEST ANIMATION – Nightlink
Director, Aidan O’Sullivan
Producer, Greg Connolly

BEST NARRATIVE FEATURE – Who We Love
Director, Graham Cantwell
Producer, Edwina Forkin, Graham Cantwell & Alan Fitzpatrick

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE – Only I Can Hear
Director, Itaru Matsui
Producer, Mayu Hirano, Kengo Toyoda, Paul Cadieu & Nancy Guerin

SCREENWRITING AWARD – BEST SCRIPT – Sam Killian for SO LONG, DOG

Special mention for former KIFF Script winner Cathriona Slammon for STORK.

TRUA AWARD – Producer Zlata Filipovic

TAKING FLIGHT AWARD – Introducing our new Rising Talent category, the TAKING FLIGHT AWARD proudly supported by Kerry Airport – Writer/Director Katie McNeice

Winners 2020

BEST INTERNATIONAL SHORT – Leopard by James Arden

BEST STUDENT SHORT – My Other Suit Is Human by Andrew Paul Montague

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE – The Yellow Dress by Natasa Paulberg

BEST OF KERRY – Bó by Mieke Vanmechelen

BEST OF KERRY – The West Kerry Cowboy by Cian O’Connor

BEST ANIMATION – GON, The Little Fox by Takeshi Yashiro

SCRIPT WRITING AWARD – Lambing by Katie McNeice

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE – VIOLET GIBSON, The Irish Woman Who Shot Mussolini by Barrie Dowdall & Kevin de la Isla O’Neill

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT – How to Fall in love in a Pandemic by Michael-David McKernan

BEST IRISH NARRATIVE SHORT – Rough by Declan Lawn & Adam Patterson

BEST NARRATIVE FEATURE – Follow the Dead by Adam William Cahill

Winners 2019

BEST INTERNATIONAL SHORT – The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating by Elisabeth Bailey

BEST ANIMATION – Mind My Mind by Floor Adams

BEST IRISH NARRATIVE – A White Horse by Shaun O’ Connor

KERRY SHORT – The Space Between Us by Elaine Kennedy

BEST STUDENT SHORT– Starry Night by Emma Smith (Special mention for Ciúnas, for its subtle and nuanced directing.)

BEST FEATURE – Kilimanjaro Mama by Malcolm Willis

BEST DOCUMENTARY – Heyday – The Mic Christopher Story by Alan Leonard

SCREENWRITING AWARD: Two Bed Terrace by Cathriona Slammon.