Homegrown stars of the silver screen will be out in force tonight at the 9th Irish Film and Television Awards.
There are 40 categories in the event, which will be broadcast from Dublin’s Convention Centre and hosted by Simon Delaney.
In the film category, Albert Nobbs, Stella Days and The Guard each picked up nine nominations.
Fighting it out in the Best Actor category are Michael Fassbender, Brendan Gleeson, Ciarán Hinds and Martin Sheen.
Meanwhile, Aoife Duffin, Antonia Campbell Hughes, Marcella Plunkett and Saoirse Ronan are all competing for the Best Actress Gong.
Brendan Gleeson in The Guard, nominated for nine Ifta awards
The Guard, John Michael McDonagh’s hit comedy, came out on top when nominations for the Irish Film and Television Awards (Ifta) were announced earlier today.
The film received nine nominations including nods for Brendan Gleeson as best actor and McDonagh for both director and screenwriter.
However, two other films also received nine mentions. Stella Days, Thaddeus O'Sullivan’s story of a priest’s efforts to maintain a cinema in rural Ireland, and Alfred Nobbs, featuring Glenn Close as a woman forced to cross-dress in 19th century Ireland, jostle with The Guard at the top of the nomination hit parade.
Now the most successful ever independently released Irish picture at the domestic box-office, The Guard must, nonetheless, be regarded as a strong favourite for the big prize. Gleeson has already received a Golden Globe nomination for his amusingly profane performance and the picture was very well reviewed on its US release.
Joining those three films on the shortlist for best film is Terry McMahon’s controversial Charlie Casanova. The story of a violent misanthrope adrift in contemporary Ireland, the picture shared the prize for best first feature at last year’s Galway Film Fleadh.
As is often the case with the Iftas, most of the nominees for best film still have a relatively low profile with general viewers. The Guard is the only one of the four to have received a commercial release in Ireland at this point.
The most puzzling of the nominations must, however, be the one granted to Ciarán Hinds as actor in a “lead role” for his performance in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. Though reliably impressive, Hinds has only a handful of lines in the John le Carré adaptation. His role in The Debt – for which he received a best supporting nod – is, if anything, slightly larger. Michael Fassbender, hugely acclaimed as a sex addict in Steve McQueen’s Shame, and Martin Sheen, star of Stella Days, compete with Hinds and Gleeson in the race for best actor.
Saoirse Ronan, nominated for the thriller Hanna, is up against Antonia Campbell Hughes, Marcella Plunkett and Aoife Duffin in the best lead actress competition.
The Iftas also acknowledge achievement in television. Love/Hate, RTÉ’s gangland drama, was way ahead of the pack with an impressive 10 nominations. Game of Thrones , the fantasy epic filmed in Northern Ireland, wheezes into a distant second place with five mentions. Created by distinguished playwright Stuart Carolan, Love/Hate has been picking up good reviews and strong viewing figures since its debut in 2010. Aidan Gillen, the show’s star, received a nomination in the best actor category.
Other shows receiving multiple nominations included Corp & Anam , the Irish language crime series, and the flouncy Arthurian epic Camelot .
Ifta chief executive Aine Moriarty said: “Ireland’s economic struggles have been well documented, but against this pressure it’s heartening to see how Ireland’s hard-working creative community continues to punch above its weight and really deliver.”
The awards will be handed out on February 11th in the Convention Centre Dublin at a ceremony hosted by actor Simon Delaney.
List of Nominations BEST FILM
Albert Nobbs - Alan Moloney, Bonnie Curtis, Julie Lynn and Glen Close
Charlie Casanova - Terry McMahon
Stella Days - Jackie Larkin& Leslie McKimm
The Guard - Ed Guiney, Andrew Lowe, Chris Larke, Flore Fernandez Marengo
DIRECTOR FILM
Rebecca Daly - The Other Side of Sleep
John Michael McDonagh - The Guard
Terry McMahon - Charlie Casanova
Thaddeus O’Sullivan - Stella Days
SCRIPT FILM
John Banville & Glenn Close - Albert Nobbs
John Michael McDonagh - The Guard
Terry McMahon - Charlie Casanova
Antoine O’Flaherta - Stella Days
ACTOR IN A LEAD ROLE IN A FEATURE FILM
Michael Fassbender – Shame
Brendan Gleeson - The Guard
Ciarán Hinds – Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Martin Sheen – Stella Days
ACTRESS IN A LEAD ROLE IN A FEATURE FILM
Aoife Duffin - Behold The Lamb
Antonia Campbell Hughes - The Other Side of Sleep
Marcella Plunkett - Stella Days
Saoirse Ronan – Hanna
ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A FEATURE FILM
Liam Cunningham - The Guard
Brendan Gleeson - Albert Nobbs
Ciarán Hinds - The Debt
Chris O’Dowd - Bridesmaids
ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A FEATURE FILM
Maria Doyle Kennedy - Albert Nobbs
Fionnula Flanagan - The Guard
Brenda Fricker - Albert Nobbs
Amy Huberman - Stella Days
INTERNATIONAL FILM
Bridesmaids
Drive
Senna
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
BEST TV DRAMA Corp + Anam - Paddy Hayes
Game of Thrones - Mark Huffam
Love/Hate - Suzanne McAuley/Steve Mattews
The Borgias - James Flynn
ACTOR IN A LEAD ROLE TELEVISION
Diarmuid de Faoite - Corp + Anam
Aidan Gillen - Love/Hate
Chris O’Dowd - The Crimson and the White Petal
David Pearse – Trivia ACTRESS IN A LEAD ROLE TELEVISION
Brendan Coyle has been nominated for his first Irish Film And Television Award for his role in Downton Abbey.
The actor, who has become an unlikely hearthrob for his role as Mr Bates in the ITV period drama, is up for best supporting actor in a television role.
He's up against actors including Aidan Gillen for Game Of Thrones and Robert Sheehan for Misfits.
Robert's Misfits co-star Ruth Negga has been nominated for the role of Shirley Bassey in Shirley.
In the film categories, period piece Albert Nobbs, rural drama Stella Days and black comedy The Guard will go head to head at the ceremony next month.
The scriptwriters of each film are also nominated, including renowned author John Banville and Hollywood actress Glenn Close who penned Albert Nobbs.
Actors nominated for a lead role are Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy star Ciaran Hinds, The Guard's Brendan Gleeson, Michael Fassbender for his performance in Steve McQueen's drama Shame, and Martin Sheen for his role as an Irish priest in Stella Days.
Sheen's co-star Marcella Plunkett has also been nominated with Antonia Campbell Hughes (The Other Side Of Sleep), Aoife Duffin (Behold The Lamb) and Saoirse Ronan (Hanna) in the lead actress category.
Presented by actor Simon Delaney, the 9th IFTAs will be broadcast in Ireland on Saturday February 11 from the Convention Centre Dublin (CCD).
Martin Sheen Nominated for Irish Academy Film Award
7:57 AM PST 1/10/2012 by Stuart Kemp
David Alexanian/Arc Entertainment
LONDON – Martin Sheen, who played the President of the United States in the TV series TheWest Wing and is an Irish citizen, finds himself among the nominees for this year’s Irish Film and Television Academy awards.
Sheen is nominated for his turn as Irish priest father Daniel Barry in the Irish movie production Stella Days in the leading actor in a film category.
He faces heavyweight competition from Michael Fassbender (Shame), Brendan Gleeson (TheGuard) and Ciaran Hinds (TinkerTailorSoldierSpy) in the category.
John Michael McDonagh’s The Guard, Terry McMahon’s Charlie Casanova, Thaddeus O’Sullivan’s Stella Days all secured best film director and best film nomination slots.
Rebecca Day rounds out the best film director nominations but her film The Other Side of Sleep misses out on a best film nomination slot with Albert Nobbs taking up the final berth in that category. Saoirse Ronan’s outing in Hanna is nominated in the best film actress category, competing for the nod with Aoife Duffin (Behold The Lamb), Antonia Campbell Hughes (The Other Side of Sleep) and Marcella Plunkett (Stella Days).
The Irish Academy’s awards are dished out annually, aiming to celebrate Irish talent in both film and television.
Irish Academy CEO Aine Moriarty said: “Ireland’s economic struggles have been well documented, but against this pressure it’s heartening to see how Ireland’s hard-working creative community continues to punch above its weight and really deliver.”
This year’s awards will be presented in Dublin on Feb. 11 at a ceremony hosted by Simon Delaney.
For a list of nominees, visit www.ifta.ie.
