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INDIECORK 2017 Awards

The IndieCork Film Festival wraps its fifth edition

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- Festival director Mick Hannigan introduced the winners after a screening of Carla Simón’s Summer 1993

The IndieCork Film Festival wraps its fifth edition
Festival director Mick Hannigan (right) and director Mark Dollard with his Ronan Phelan Script Award (© Marcin Lewandowski/soundofphotography.com)

The IndieCork Film Festival wrapped its fifth edition at the historic Gate Cinema in Cork on Sunday 15 October. Festival director Mick Hannigan introduced this year’s winners after the final screening of Summer 1993 [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Carla Simón
film profile
]
, the debut feature by Catalan director Carla Simón.

The Award for Best Irish Short Film went to Mike Hannon’s 19-minute documentary The Cloud of Unknowing, previously screened at the Still Voices Film Festival in Ballymahon. The film tells the story of a hermit living in total isolation in a small Connemara cottage, dedicating 30 years of his life to silence, solitude and prayer. The jury justified its decision with the following statement: “With its beautiful cinematic style, The Cloud of Unknowing confirms cinema's capacity to enable us to experience the world through other eyes – in this case, those of a contemporary hermit.”

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The winner of this year’s Spirit of IndieCork Film Award was Gerard Walsh, the director of Release. Produced by Matthew Toman for Bankhouse Productions, this independent Irish feature tells of the life of disgraced boxer Andrew Keating after he is granted early release from prison. The jury said, “Gerard is the epitome of the independent filmmaker, who, despite all budgetary limitations, consistently produces excellent cinema.”

Viewers very much appreciated the works by the awarded filmmakers and were lucky in terms of timing, as immediately after the last screening, the staff of the Gate Cinema started laying out sandbags in preparation for the arrival of Hurricane Ophelia.

Here is the complete list of award winners of the 2017 IndieCork Film Festival:

Best World Short Film
KL – William Hanne and Yann Bonin (Belgium)

Best Irish Short Film
The Cloud of Unknowing – Mike Hannon (Ireland)

Best Creative Cork Short Film
Anxiety High – Killian Pettit (Ireland)

Ronan Phelan Script Award
The Story of Aylan – Mark Dollard (Ireland)

Ó’Bhéal Poetry Film Award
Descrambled Eggs – Kayla Jeanson (Canada)

Spirit of IndieCork Film Award
Release – Gerard Walsh (Ireland)

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