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CELEBRATED IRISH ACTOR FIONNULA FLANAGAN TO RECEIVE EXCELLENCE AWARD AT THE MAGNERS IRISH FILM FESTIVAL IN BOSTON
Waking Ned Devine, The Others Among Her Works Showcased
BOSTON, MA (October 27, 2005) Peter Flynn, director of the Magners Irish Film Festival announced today the 2005 Festival award winners and the recipient of this year’s Excellence Award, Fionnula Flanagan, one of Ireland’s most celebrated actors. Ms. Flanagan will receive the award November 20 at a special ceremony at the Brattle Theatre, which will include a retrospective look of her work on stage, screen and television. This is the third year Magners Irish Cider is sponsoring the film festival and continually seeks to support those who are dedicated to exploring and promoting Irish culture and Irish related issues.
“It is a thrill to honor Fionnula at this year’s festival, and a testament to the respect and importance this film festival has cultivated over the past six years,” said Peter Flynn, director, Magners Irish Film Festival. “It will be an exciting evening celebrating her distinguished career and the role she has had in elevating Irish film and theatre.”
MIFF Awards Presentation
Fionuala Flanagan receiving the Excellence Award at the Magners Irish Film Festival.
From the time she began her career at Dublin’s famed Abbey Theatre, Ms. Flanagan quickly earned a reputation as the definitive interpreter of James Joyce with her landmark one-woman show,
James Joyce’s Women. Subsequent work in film and on television earned Ms. Flanagan an Emmy Award for
Rich Man, Poor Man (1976) and a Screen Actor’s Guild nomination for her work in
Waking Ned Devine (1998). Ms. Flanagan’s extensive screen work also includes
Some Mother’s Son (1996),
The Others (2001),
The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood (2002) as well as the highly-acclaimed 1985 film version of
James Joyce’s Women, which she also produced.
Ms. Flanagan is the third person to receive the Excellence Award from the Boston based festival, following Jim Sheridan and Gabriel Byrne who received the award in 2003 and 2004, respectively. The ceremony will mark the conclusion of the festival, showcasing more than 30 Irish and Irish-related features, shorts and documentaries from November 17-21 at the Brattle Theatre and the Harvard Film Archive.
In addition to the Excellence Award, the festival celebrates the very best in Ireland and the Irish on screen by awarding filmmakers in three other categories: Best Feature, Best Documentary, and Best Short Fiction/Animation as well as a Director’s Choice Award.
This year’s winners, who will be in attendance to receive their awards, are:
- Best Feature: Mickybo & Me (Director: Terry Loane, Producer: Mark Huffam)
- Best Documentary: Patrick Kavanagh: No Man’s Fool (Director: Se Merry Doyle, Producer: Martina Durac)
- Best Short Fiction/Animation: Recoil (Billy McCannon, Producer: Jonathan Cummins)
- Director’s Choice: Undressing My Mother (Director: Ken Wardrop, Producer: Andrew Freedman)
The screenings will be complemented by receptions at Boston area pubs and hotels. The film festival and receptions are sponsored by Magners Irish Cider, the only authentic cider available in the U.S.
For tickets to the festival, a schedule of events and screenings, go to www.irishfilmfestival.com or contact festival director Peter Flynn at irishfilmfestival@earthlink.net.
Magners Irish Cider (www.magners.com) is Ireland’s leading cider and the only cider imported from Ireland to the United States. The quality of Magners and its unique Irish heritage has lead to the brand’s success. Today, Magners is available in the U.K. and 12 other European countries.
