IRISH OSCAR NOMINEES are Hollywood-bound this afternoon ahead of the highly-anticipated awards show on Sunday evening.
Hopeful cast and crew are departing from Dublin Airport today after receiving a slew of nods for the 95th Academy Awards.
The Banshees of Inisherin received nine nominations in total, including Colin Farrell for Best Actor, Brendan Gleeson and Barry Keoghan for Best Supporting Actor and Kerry Condon for Best Supporting Actress.
The film is nominated for Best Original Score, Best Original Screenplay and Best Film Editing.
Irish-language film An Cailín Ciúin is nominated for Best International Feature, the first time an Irish film has been nominated in the category.
Paul Mescal, known best for his starring role in Normal People, is nominated for Best Actor for his role in Aftersun, while short film An Irish Goodbye is a contender for Best Live Action Short Film.
Speaking to The Journal Assistant News Editor Aoife Barry at Dublin Airport, actress Carrie Crowley of An Cailín Ciúin said it felt “amazing” to be en route to the Oscars and praised the high-standard of films in the Best International Feature category.
She said that the reactions to An Cailín Ciún that people have described to her range from personal recollections in Ireland of visiting relatives as a child to “much broader” responses from “people all over the world who find something in it that speaks to them”.
“Regardless of gender or age or nationality, people just get it,” she said.
She described an event on their agenda on Friday involving a discussion between the directors in the International category in front of an audience, followed by a dinner. “I just think it is such a privilege to go with those people. To me, that’s more exciting than the Oscars!”
Colm Bairéad and Cleona Ní Chrualaoí, the Director and Producer of An Cailín Ciúin, also expressed their excitement ahead of the awards.
“It’s going to be a wonderful occassion to celebrate the film. We’re so happy that there’s a big gang of us going over from our film and obviously there are so many Irish nominees this year, so it’ll be a real Irish vibe, I think, to the whole thing,” Baireád said.
On how they hope the awards might play out, Baireád said: “We’re up against some very stiff competition, particularly with All’s Quiet on the Western Front, which is a clear favourite. So we’re just going to really enjoy the moment.”
“Stranger things have happened, I guess, but we’re certainly not going in thinking, ‘Oh, we’re going to win this thing’,” he said.
“We just think it’s such an incredible achievement that we have an Irish language feature film nominated for the very first time at the Oscars, and no matter what happens, we’re just going to celebrate everything that our film has achieved so far.”
Minister for Culture Catherine Martin is travelling to Los Angeles as part of a trade mission alongside the awards aimed at strengthening links between Irish screen producers and Hollywood studios.
The minister has meetings scheduled with companies such as Sony and Disney, the latter of which will include representatives from Marvel, Searchlight and Lucas Film.
Speaking at the airport, the minister said that she plans to “maximise the opportunity” during her time in the city.
“We’re so, so proud for our country punching so much above its weight, to have 14 nominations, and we’re all really looking forward and so, so proud of each and every nomination,” she said.
“This really important for our industry and I’m going to maximise the the opportunity now [during] the week.
“LA is the world capital of entertainment and I’m going to be connecting with film studios and production companies over the next week and building on those relationships.”
The Journal will have Oscars coverage by Assistant News Editor Aoife Barry in Los Angeles over the coming days, including from the ceremony overnight on Sunday.
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