IFNY Director Niall McKay, Directors Paul Rowley, Ian Power, Ian Palmer, and Deputy Consul General Jackie O’Halloran Bernstein at Irish Film New York (IFNY)Awards Ceremony
Ian Palmer’s Knuckle clinched the Moet Best Film award at Irish Film New York, which ended its inaugural three-day run on Sunday, 2nd October 2011. The documentary’s sold-out New York premiere brought out a ‘who’s who’ of Irish boxing royalty including recently retired middleweight champion John Duddy, heavyweight bare-knuckle boxing champion Bobby Gunn, and Knuckle star, the bare-knuckle fighter James Quinn McDonnagh.
The Moet Most Promising Film Maker award went to Ian Power, director of The Runway, while Still Film’s Paul Rowley, editor of Pyjama Girls was named the Moet Rising Star.
Irish Deputy Consul General MS Jackie O’Halloran Bernstein presented the Moet Awards at the opening night reception in New York University’s Glucksman Ireland House. In the capacity crowd were notables Lenny Crook of Killer Films, Independent Film and Television Alliance CEO Aine Moriarty and COO Deirdre Hopkins, First Irish Theatre Festival Director George Heslin, Irish Arts Center vice chairman Pauline Turley, Irish American Writers & Artists co-founder TJ English, along with noted journalists, writers, actors, artists, scholars, media executives and cinema enthusiasts.
Over the weekend IFNY also screened Marian Quinn’s 32A, Parked with Colm Meaney and Sensation, starring Domhnall Gleeson.
‘We’ve sold out many of our screenings so the response has been overwhelming,’ IFNY Founder and Director Niall McKay said. ‘There’s a tremendous appetite for contemporary Irish film in New York but more importantly we’ve been able to spread the word about the quality of these films in the US, which we hope to do here in New York every year.’
Helping spread the word on Irish film was extensive media coverage in New York’s Daily News, Irish Examiner, Irish Voice, Irish Echo, Irish America Magazine,IrishCentral.com, GreenCine, IndieWire, coverage on local TV, New York arts & entertainment listings, along with an anticipated article in The New York Times.
The film festival began with an industry panel in which filmmakers Marian Quinn, Ian Power, Paul Rowley, producers Tommy Weir and Katie Holly, and Irish Film Board’s Alan Maher discussed contemporary Irish cinema before a packed hall.
