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- Irish Examiner
Cork-shot film directed by Brendan Canty wins Best Irish Film at Galway Film Fleadh
A Cork-shot feature film directed by Irish director Brendan Canty won the Best Irish Film prize at the 37th edition of the Galway Film Fleadh earlier this week.
Christy, which was written by Alan O'Gorman, directed by Brendan Canty and produced by Marina Brackenbury, Meredith Duff and Rory Gilmartin, won Best Irish Film in association with Element Pictures at the Fleadh.
The Fleadh welcomed filmmakers and audiences from around the world to celebrate bold storytelling, new voices, and cinematic excellence.
Christy, based on Canty's short film of the same name, follows a 17-year-old after he is thrown out of his foster home and moves in with his estranged older half-brother in Cork.
Danny Power, Emma Willis, and Chris Walley star in the UK-Ireland co-production, which is due to be released in Irish cinemas on August 29.
The acclaimed coming-of-age story received its world premiere as the opening film of the Generation 14 plus competition at Berlinale 2025 and won the Grand Prix of the Generation 14plus International Jury in Berlin in February.
A total of 97 feature films, including 44 Irish features, and more than 100 shorts from Ireland and the rest of the world were screened over six days at this year's Fleadh.
The festival closed with a sold-out screening of The Life of Chuck, directed by Mike Flanagan and based on the novella by Stephen King, which was followed by the presentation of this year's awards.
The Best Irish First Feature went to Horseshoe, the Best Irish Feature Documentary was awarded to Sanatorium, the Bingham Ray New Talent Award was awarded to Jessica Reynolds for her role in The Wolf, The Fox & The Leopard, the Best Irish Language Feature Film was awarded to Báite, and the James Horgan Award for Best Animation Short, was awarded to Éiru.
Donncha Gilmore's Girls & Boys and Eamonn Murphy's Solitary won Best Independent Irish Film, and the Audience Award went to Lance Daly's Trad.
Several awards were also given to projects presented at the Galway Film Fair, including Gary Lennon's John Lennon's Island (Best Documentary Project, supported by Impronta Films) and Fiona Ashe's Beneath the Surface (Audience Design Award, supported by Síle Culley).
