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The nominations for the 2021 Iftas – the Irish Film and Television Academy awards – in the film and TV drama categories have been unveiled. David Freyne’s Dating Amber, a charming comedy starring Fionn O’Shea and Lola Petticrew, topped the film chart, with eight nominations. In TV drama, Normal People, the hit adaptation of Sally Rooney’s novel, scooped up a staggering 15 nominations.
The Covid crisis offered challenges to the Irish production and exhibition sectors, but there was sufficient activity to generate six worthy nominees for best film. Joining Dating Amber in that race are Paddy Slattery’s Broken Law, a hard-hitting urban drama; Phyllida Lloyd’s Herself, a tale of domestic abuse written by and starring Clare Dunne; Lorcan Finnegan’s Vivarium, an acclaimed horror that premiered in Cannes two years ago; Cathy Brady’s Wildfire, an intense drama from the border counties and – among the most acclaimed Irish films of recent years – Tomm Moore and Ross Stewart’s Oscar-nominated animation Wolfwalkers. There is sometimes a bias against animation from awards bodies, but Cartoon Saloon, the Kilkenny-based producer of Wolfwalkers, did take the best film prize in 2015 for Song of the Sea. So it must be a contender.
There is a poignant flavour to the best-actress competition, with Nika McGuigan receiving a posthumous nomination for her coruscating performance in Wildfire. McGuigan, daughter of the boxer Barry McGuigan, died in 2019 at the age of 33. Her costar Nora-Jane Noone is also nominated. Premiered at last year’s Toronto International Film Festival, Wildfire has not yet been released in this territory. Best actress is fiercely competitive, with Jessie Buckley, intense in Charlie Kaufman’s I’m Thinking of Ending Things; Lola Petticrew, touching in Dating Amber; and Clare Dunne, heart-rending in Herself, also vying for the Ifta.
Ciarán Hinds, up for The Man in the Hat; Fionn O’Shea from Dating Amber; Gabriel Byrne, nominated for Death of a Ladies’ Man; Moe Dunford, tough in Knuckledust, and Tristan Heanue, eye-catching in Broken Law, compete for best actor.
Denied her customary slot at the Oscars, Saoirse Ronan has secured a place among the best-supporting-actress nominees for her turn as a fossil hunter in the lesbian romance Ammonite.
Nobody will be surprised at the avalanche of nominations for Normal People. Emerging in April of last year, the series, starring Paul Mescal and Daisy Edgar-Jones, became the defining hit of lockdown. Mescal, who won a Bafta earlier this month for the role, is one of four Irish actors nominated at the domestic event. Fionn O’Shea, Desmond Eastwood and Sarah Greene are all up in supporting categories. The former Oscar nominee Lenny Abrahamson is mentioned as best director for the series. Smother, the hit whodunit, also did well, picking up a thumping 11 nominations.
The George Morrison Feature Documentary Award features an especially strong line-up this year. Finding Jack Charlton nods to the nation’s favourite Englishman. Phil Lynott: Songs for While I’m Away tells the story of that rock poet’s struggles. Pat Collins’s Henry Glassie: Field Work looks at a renowned folklorist. Breaking Out examines the late musician Fergus O’Farrell. The 8th is a terrific treatment of the campaign to repeal The Eighth Amendment. Tomorrow Is Saturday treats the Irish artist Sean Hillen with charm and delicacy. Any would be a worthy winner.
“This year’s nominations are an incredible reflection of the high-calibre talent of Irish filmmakers, who are producing world-class standards of production and storytelling on screen,” Áine Moriarty, Ifta’s chief executive, says. “The Irish academy is proud to showcase and acknowledge their great achievements. This past year and a half has been difficult for everyone across the globe, and it’s heartening now to see things opening back up, including our cinemas nationwide, and we urge everyone to go see this incredible array of movies on the big screen near you. Cinema is above all a communal experience.”
Ifta shows have been erratically spaced in recent years. There was no ceremony in 2019. The awards for work released in 2018 and 2019 were presented at a virtual ceremony in October 2020. This year’s show, again a virtual event, will be broadcast on Virgin Media One on Sunday, July 4th.
IFTAS 2021: THE NOMINEES
FILM CATEGORIES
Best film
Broken Law   Dating Amber            Herself                        Vivarium                    Wildfire                      Wolfwalkers             
Director film
Cathy Brady – Wildfire                      David Freyne – Dating Amber                      Lorcan Finnegan – Vivarium            Paddy Slattery – Broken Law                       Tomm Moore and Ross Stewart – Wolfwalkers                    
Script film
Cathy Brady – Wildfire                      Clare Dunne and Malcolm Campbell – Herself                       David Freyne – Dating Amber                      Paddy Slattery – Broken Law                       Will Collins – Wolfwalkers               
Lead actor film
Ciarán Hinds – The Man In The Hat             Fionn O’Shea – Dating Amber                       Gabriel Byrne – Death of a Ladies Man                    Moe Dunford – Knuckledust             Tristan Heanue – Broken Law                                 
Lead actress film
Clare Dunne – Herself                        Jessie Buckley – I’m Thinking of Ending Things                 Lola Petticrew – Dating Amber                    Nika McGuigan – Wildfire                 Nora-Jane Noone – Wildfire             
Supporting actor film
Barry Ward – Dating Amber             Brian Gleeson – Death of a Ladies Man                    Colm Meaney – Pixie             Conleth Hill – Herself            Ned Dennehy – Undergods              
Supporting actress film       
Ally Ni Chiarain – Broken Law                      Kathy Kiera Clarke – A Bend in the River                Molly McCann – Herself                    Saoirse Ronan – Ammonite               Sharon Horgan – Dating Amber                  
DRAMA CATEGORIES
Best drama                       
Blood Season 2                      Dead Still                    Line of Duty Season 6                       Normal People                       Smother                     Vikings Season 6                  
Director drama             
Dathaí Keane – Smother                    Dearbhla Walsh – Fargo                    Imogen Murphy – Dead Still             Lenny Abrahamson – Normal People                      Steve St. Leger – Vikings Season 6              
Script drama                   
Declan Lawn and Adam Patterson – The Salisbury Poisonings                    John Morton – Dead Still                   Kate O’Riordan – Smother                Lisa McGee – The Deceived               Sally Rooney – Normal People                     
Lead actor drama                    
Adrian Dunbar – Line of Duty Season 6                   Brendan Gleeson – The Comey Rule            James Nesbitt – Bloodlands              Michael Smiley – Dead Still               Paul Mescal – Normal People                                  
Lead actress drama                 
Aisling Franciosi – Black Narcissus              Catherine Walker – The Deceived                Dervla Kirwan – Smother                  Eve Hewson – Behind Her Eyes                    Niamh Algar – Raised By Wolves                
Supporting actor drama                  
Andrew Scott – His Dark Materials              Colm Meaney – Gangs of London                 Desmond Eastwood – Normal People                      Éanna Hardwicke – Smother            Fionn O’Shea – Normal People                    
Supporting actress drama              
Fiona Shaw – Killing Eve                   Gemma-Leah Devereux – Smother               Nicola Coughlan – Bridgerton                       Sarah Greene – Normal People                     Seána Kerslake – Smother               
DOCUMENTARY AND SHORT FILM CATEGORIES
Feature documentary            
Breaking Out             Finding Jack Charlton                       Henry Glassie: Field Work                Phil Lynott: Songs for While I’m Away                    The 8th                       Tomorrow is Saturday                     
Short film            
Five Letters to the Stranger Who Will Dissect My Brain             Flicker            Kathleen Was Here               My Other Suit Is Human                   Rough             The Invisible Boy                 
Short animation           
Gunter Falls in Love              Her Song                    The Dead Hands of Dublin               The Voyage                Zog and the Flying Doctors
CRAFT CATEGORIES
Cinematography           
Cathal Watters – Smother                 Ciaran Tanham – Dead Still               James Mather – Here are the Young Men                Kate McCullough – Normal People               Suzie Lavelle – Normal People                    
Costume                 
Aisling Wallace Byrne – Here are the Young Men              Joan O’Clery – Dating Amber             Leonie Prendergast – Gretel & Hansel                     Lorna Marie Mugan – Normal People                      Triona Lillis – Smother                     
Editing                   
Colin Campbell – Here are the Young Men              Gráinne Gavigan – Dead Still            Nathan Nugent – Normal People                  Tony Cranstoun – Vivarium              Úna Ní Dhonghaíle – Misbehaviour             
Production design                   
John Leslie – Son                    Lucy van Lonkhuyzen – Normal People                  Philip Murphy – Vivarium                 Ray Ball – Sea Fever               Tamara Conboy – Herself                 
Sound                      
Aza Hand and Patrick Drummond – Son                     Hugh Fox, Fionán Higgins and Mark Henry – Smother                      Kieran Horgan and Brendan Rehill – Phil Lynott: Songs for While I’m Away                     Patrick Drummond, Aza Hand, Katie O’Mahony and Adrian Conway – Here are the Young Men             Steve Fanagan, Niall Brady, and Niall O Sullivan – Normal People              
Make up and hair                
Jennie Readman and Niamh O’Loan – Vivarium                     Linda Gannon Foster and Jennifer Hegarty – Dead Still                    Linda Gannon Foster and Liz Byrne – Gretel & Hansel                      Sandra Kelly and Sharon Doyle – Normal People                   Siobhan Harper-Ryan – I Hate Suzie                       
Score                       
Aza Hand – Son                      Colm Mac Con Iomaire – A Bend in the River                      John McPhillips – Smother                Ray Harman – Blood Season 2                      Stephen Rennicks – Normal People            
VFX                
Jim O’Hagan and Ed Bruce – WandaVision                 Ed Bruce – Shadow and Bone                       Ed Bruce – Kidding