Irish short films continue to receive critical acclaim and recognition across the globe.  Here are some of the latest highlights.

Following on from picking up the Best International Short Film at the Rome Independent Film Festival last month Darren Thornton’s TWO HEARTS has received a nomination for the European Academy Awards which will take place later this year.  Written by Colin Thorton and produced by Colette Farrell for Calipo Pictures, Two Hearts tells the story of Lorna, who after a man from her past is released from prison, sees her emotions spiral out of control. She finds herself inextricably drawn back to a life, and a love, that’s forbidden.  The short film was funded under Bord Scannán na hÉireann / the Irish film Board’s Signatures short scheme.

Short animation WE THE MASSES directed by Eoghan Kidney picked up the Spirit Award for Animation at the Brooklyn Film Festival over the weekend.  Written by Kidney and Robyn O’Neil, the animation follows a man who falls to the ground in a barren snowy landscape.  Searching to continue his fall, he discovers other men who he joins, hoping they will lead him to his destination.  What he is led to is incomprehensible.  The short was produced by Nicky Gogan for Still Films under the Bord Scannán na hÉireann/the Irish Film Board Frameworks scheme. *

Ross McDonnell’s REMEMBER ME, MY GHOST has received an Honourable Mention at the Canadian Film Centre Worldwide Short Film Festival.  The short documentary tells the harrowing but ultimately triumphant tale of one woman’s life in the iconic Ballymun flats in Dublin.   It was produced by Morgan Bushe for Fastnet Films under the IFB Reality Bites scheme.