Juliette Binoche the 2010 recipient of the Maureen O’ Hara Award with Maureen O’ Hara
Hollywood Legend Maureen O’ Hara will be in Kerry for the Kerry Film Festival on Saturday, 5th November to present an award to Irish actress Fionnula Flanagan. Kerry Film Festival has presented the Maureen O’ Hara on an annual basis since 2008. Previous winners have included Oscar winning actresses Brenda Fricker and Juliette Binoche and acclaimed director Rebecca Miller.
‘I will be thrilled to present Fionnula Flanagan with this year’s award at the Kerry Film Festival,’ said Maureen O’Hara, ‘It’s a pleasure to honour such a remarkable actress who epitomises all that the award has come too represent over the last four years.’
Described as one of the most varied actresses in film history Fionnula Flanagan has made an impact on the stage, in feature films, and on the small screen. Most recently she appeared in The Guard with Brendan Gleeson and Dom Cheadle and is well known as the recurring character Eloise Hawking in ABC’s TV phenomenon Lost.
The intensity and variety of her work is evident in her remarkable filmography which includes feature films James Joyce’s Women,Ulysses, Waking Ned, A State of Emergency, Reflections, Final Verdict, the Academy Award winning In The Region of Ice and the critically acclaimed Some Mother’s Son, in which she starred with Helen Mirren.
‘I am delighted and very honoured to be invited to receive the Maureen O’Hara Award at the Kerry Film Festival 2011′ commented Flanagan. ‘It is fitting and generous of Maureen to lend her name to an award that acknowledges the work of actresses following in her footsteps, who are as passionate about film as she herself proved to be in her long and successful career as a true Hollywood film star. I am proud to be able to support the Kerry Film Festival since in these troubling economic times, not just for Ireland, but for the whole world, I believe it is important to keep the arts alive. It is the painters, the poets, the storytellers, the film makers who give us all a different way of looking at life, who remind us of our frailty, our longing, and our potential. However, of all the arts film is unique. Through the lens of the camera we get to see the power contained in the mere raising of an eyebrow, the averting of the gaze, the smile suppressed, and we realize we are all members of the human family. Racially, culturally, politically, religiously, we are all different, and nuanced in our diversity. However, it is the intimate, indelible images captured by the film camera that offer us, seated together in the dark, the sense memory and anticipation, deep in our DNA, of having our hearts broken. And that is how we know we are human. Perhaps it is the only proof we really have.
Kerry Film Festival’s Maureen O’Hara Award, kindly sponsored by Killarney Crystal, acknowledges women who have excelled in film, being named in honour of O’Hara who is undoubtedly one of Hollywood’s best loved actresses. Past recipients include Juliette Binoche, Rebecca Miller, and Brenda Fricker.
The award ceremony which takes place at Siamsa Tíre in Tralee at 2.00pm on 5th November, is the culmination of a week long celebration of film at the Kerry Film Festival with new Irish and international short film competitions, special feature screenings, workshops and events. It will be hosted by radio and TV personality, Dave Fanning and will feature screenings of the winning short films as selected by this year’s illustrious adjudicators Paul Greengrass, Norton Virgien and Cillian Murphy.
2 Comments
Maureen O’Hara has always been and continues in my estimation a very talented actress from Drama to Comedy and by far the most beautiful actress to ever grace the Silver screen. When God created her it was a making that he could well be proud of. I know it will be a long time before we see the likes of Ms O’Hara’s talents and beauty
Word.