A film, first flagged when it took a Film Fleadh award while still in gestation, returned to this year’ s event for its world premiere – and walked away with the Best Irish Film Award, as the festival wrapped up proceedings on Sunday night.
Lakelands – written, directed and produced by Robert Higgins and Patrick McGivney – was announced as winner of Best Irish Film, having won the Fleadh’s Best Marketplace Project Award in 2021.
Lakelands follows Cian, a young Gaelic footballer who struggles to comes to terms with a career-ending injury after an attack on a night out. Cian undertakes a search for his own identity in a small town where Gaelic football is a religion, and identity is defined by what you can do on the pitch.
Featuring the directorial debuts of Higgins and McGivney, the strong cast included emerging Irish stars Éanna Hardwicke (Vivarium, Normal People) and Danielle Galligan (Netflix’s Shadow and Bone).
Its win was one of the highlights of the 34th edition of the Galway Film Fleadh.
The award winners were announced before the closing film, Ukrainian-made Carol of the Bells, which told the story of three families – Ukrainian, Polish, and Jewish – who lived in the same building in Stanislaviv in Ukraine between 1938 and 1944. All three families disappeared one by one, leaving their children in the building. The last one to disappear was a Ukrainian woman who was a teacher of music.
Other big winners included the Sparrow, written and directed by Michael Kinirons and produced by Alicia Ní Ghráinne, which was named Best Irish First Feature.
For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.
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