Dublin director's Bosnian War drama is Ifta front runner

JUANITA WILSON'S As If I Am Not There, a searing drama of the 1990s Bosnian War, emerged as the front runner in the film section when the nominations for the eighth Irish Film and Television Awards (Ifta) were announced yesterday.

Wilson’s movie, a co-production between Ireland, Sweden and Macedonia, received six mentions, including for best film, best director, best cinematography and best script.

Wilson, a Dubliner, whose short The Doorreceived an Oscar nomination last year, was recently named as "one to watch" by Variety Magazine, the prestigious trade paper.

The other nominations for best film were Ian Fitzgibbon's Perrier's Bounty,Conor McDermottroe's Swansong: The Story of Occi Byrne, Ian Power's The Runwayand Tom Hall's Sensation.

The Runway, winner of the audience prize at this year's Galway Film Fleadh, and Occi Byrne, which took the Fleadh prize in 2009, were joint runners-up in the nominations race. Both films received five mentions.

Perrier's Bounty, a gangster film that secured indifferent reviews on release, managed four nominations. Sensation, an imaginative sex drama set in the midlands, still only seen at festivals, increased its chances of receiving a theatrical release by securing three nods.

Áine Moriarty, Ifta’s chief executive, said: “In 2010 the Irish film and television industry has continued to produce a remarkable standard of work despite difficult circumstances in the Irish economy.

“The academy is delighted the industry, with the ongoing support from the Irish Government, is continuing to provide excellent feature films, dramas, entertainment programmes and documentaries.”

The Iftas, which take place on February 12th at Convention Centre Dublin, also honour exceptional achievements in television.

The biggest hitter this year was the RTÉ drama Love/Hate. The four-part series, set in the heart of Dublin's gangland, received a whopping 10 nominations. Among those mentioned were actors Robert Sheehan and writer Stuart Carolan. Other programmes receiving multiple nominations included the Irish-language drama Na Cloigne and Dearbhla Walsh's disturbing thriller The Silence.

Female performers will note with some weariness that due to “an inadequate number of lead actress submissions in the film category”, the best film actress and best TV actress categories have been merged.

Only Amy Huberman, impressive in the low-budget thriller Rewind, received a nomination for performing in a theatrical feature.

Inception, A Prophet, Toy Story 3and The Social Networkwere nominated for best international picture, while the stars of three of those films – Leonardo DiCaprio for Inception, Jesse Eisenberg for The Social Networkand Tahar Rahim for A Prophet– made the shortlist for best international actor.

It was odd, however, to see Russell Crowe as the fourth name on that list. At this point this is the only significant garland Crowe has received for his performance in the thriller The Next Three Days.

The full list of nominations is available at ifta.ie