AN IRISH SHORT film has been shortlisted for nomination for the Academy Awards.
Pentecost, a light-hearted short written and directed by Peter McDonald is one of just ten short films from all over the globe which has made the shortlist.This will be whittled down to a final five for the actual night of the Oscars. The makers of Pentecost will find out if their film has made the cut on 24 January next. The Academy Awards themselves are held on 26 February next in LA. A total of 107 films had been originally selected in the category.
Irish short films have a knack of doing well in the short film category at the Oscars. Six Shooter, a film by Beauty Queen of Leenane playwright Martin McDonagh, won the Oscar for Best Live Action Short in 2006. Other Irish shorts who have been nominated for an Oscar include Cathal Gaffney’s Give Up Yer Aul Sins, Juanita Wilson’s The Door, Steff Green’s New Boy, Ruairí Robinson’s Fifty Percent Grey, Michael Creagh’s The Crush and Nicky Phelan’s Granny O’Grimm’s Sleeping Beauty.
One of those film-makers, Juanita Wilson, had her debut feature-length film As If I Am Not There put forward as Ireland’s entry to the Foreign Language category at the Oscars for 2012. That Oscar longlist has not yet been announced and the IFB told TheJournal.ie that screenings are currently being held for the voters of that category.
Peter McDonald’s nominated short Pentecost was funded by the Irish Film Board and stars Andrew Bennett, Michael McElhatton and Don Wycherley. It “tells the story of a young altar boy who is forced to serve at an important Mass and has to make a difficult choice: conform to the status quo or serve an extended ban from his passion in life… football”.
The film won Best Irish Short at the Corona Cork Film Festival last year and was selected for the Tribeca Film Festival this year. It’s the directorial debut of McDonald, who is better known to Irish audiences as an actor who has starred in films such as I Went Down, When Brendan Met Trudy and Felicia’s Journey. He will also be seen in the upcoming TV series Titanic, which will be released next year and was filmed in Ireland recently with actors Neve Campbell and Chris Noth.
Here’s a little trailer of Pentecost:
(via WindmillLanePost/Youtube.com)
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