A FILM NOMINATED in the British Short Film category at tonight’s Bafta awards was funded under a scheme that commemorates the 1916 Rising.
The film, The Party, was directed by Northern Irish director Andrea Harkin and stars actors from across the island of Ireland.
The 14-minute long short is about a party that takes place in Belfast in 1972, and has already won a number of awards – including Best Female Director for Harkin – and been selected for festivals worldwide.
The film, which was written by actor Conor MacNeill (who most recently starred in Jadotville), was funded under the Irish Film Board’s After ’16 project.
The IFB describes After ’16 as:
a once-off initiative which will commemorate, celebrate and ruminate on 1916 and how the events of Easter Sunday and beyond forged the landscape of the century that followed.
Filmmakers were invited to give their response to 1916 and the 100 years since, and IFB production and distribution manager Emma Scott said:
The films are set from the days leading up to the Rising, right through to the Troubles in Belfast and on to present day Ireland. We hope these nine films will resonate as the creative response of Irish filmmakers to the 1916 commemoration.
Speaking to TheJournal.ie, an IFB spokesperson said the board is “delighted to see The Party being Bafta-nominated”.
“It is a huge honour for the film. They’ve a Bafta nomination on their CV through the support they have gotten from the IFB and that is exactly what we want our films to receive; that is the type of international recognition we want for them.”
The fact the film was nominated in a British category and has a Northern Irish director and Irish funding is also of interest given that some British awards ceremonies have begun changing the names of categories to reflect Irish nominees.
In 2007, the London Film Critics Circle responded to criticism of Irish or Irish-British filmmakers/actors being included in British categories by amending several award titles to remove the word ‘British’.
The IFB spokesperson said they would love to see the Baftas introducing something similar.
The Irish-Ethiopian actress Ruth Negga is also up for an award at tonight’s Baftas - the Rising Star Award. Earlier this month, she received an Oscar nomination for her role as Mildred Loving in the film Loving.
The Baftas will kick off tonight at 7pm and will be available to view on BBC One from 9pm.
A livestream of the red carpet will be broadcast on the awards’ Facebook page, for those who don’t want to miss out on any of the action. The full list of nominees can be read here.
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