Colm Bairéad’s An Cailín Ciúin (The Quiet Girl), a modestly budgeted Irish-language production, has been nominated for best international film at the Academy Awards on a day that saw the nation register by far its best ever results at this stage of the Oscar calendar.
With nine nods, Martin McDonagh’s The Banshees of Inisherin broke the record for most nominations for an Irish film. Paul Mescal, on a roll since his breakthrough with Normal People, competes in best actor for his performance in Charlotte Wells’s Aftersun. Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson, Kerry Condon and Barry Keoghan all get acting nods for Banshees.
Bairéad and his team gathered nervously at the Stella Cinema in Rathmines to watch Allison Williams and Riz Ahmed read the results from Los Angeles. The requirement for the film to compete under its English-language title heightened the tension. “It’s read out alphabetically. So we were the last and that was nail-biting stuff,” Bairéad told The Irish Times.
An Cailín Ciúin, based on the story Foster by Claire Keegan, stars Catherine Clinch, 12 years old at the time of the film’s premiere, as a young girl who uncovers mysteries and finds unexpected affection while staying with relatives during her mother’s pregnancy. Following the film’s successful unveiling at the Berlin Film Festival last February, it picked up numerous awards before becoming the first ever Irish-language production to land on the Oscar shortlist for best international film. It was produced under the Cine4 scheme, a partnership between TG4, Screen Ireland and the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland.
“I just wouldn’t let myself believe it could happen until the very second it was announced,” Catherine Clinch said. “I’m so grateful to be part of this very special film. My grandparents would be really proud that the Irish language will be heard all over the world.”
Bairéad agrees that an Irish-language film making the international film race for the first time is a huge boon for cinema in the native tongue. “As a young filmmaker, there was this unspoken attitude that making films in Irish was a fool’s errand. And I think An Cailín Ciúin has dispelled that notion,” he said.
There was yet more good news for Irish film when it was confirmed that Flora and Son, the latest musical from John Carney, director of Once and Sing Street, had sold to Apple at the Sundance Film Festival for a figure in the region of $20 million. Starring Eve Hewson and Jack Reynor, the Dublin-based drama will surely be looking to compete at next year’s awards season.
Director
- Martin McDonagh, The Banshees of Inisherin
- Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, Everything Everywhere All at Once
- Steven Spielberg, The Fabelmans
- Todd Field, Tár
- Ruben Östlund, Triangle of Sadness
Movie
- All Quiet on the Western Front
- Avatar: The Way of Water
- The Banshees of Inisherin
- Elvis
- Everything Everywhere All at Once
- The Fabelmans
- Tár
- Top Gun: Maverick
- Triangle of Sadness
- Women Talking
Actor in a leading role
- Austin Butler, Elvis
- Colin Farrell, The Banshees of Inisherin
- Brendan Fraser, The Whale
- Paul Mescal, Aftersun
- Bill Nighy, Living
Actress in a leading role
- Cate Blanchett, Tár
- Ana de Armas, Blonde
- Andrea Riseborough, To Leslie
- Michelle Williams, The Fabelamans
- Michelle Yeoh, Everything Everywhere All at Once
Animated feature
- Guillermo del Torro’s Pinocchio, Guillermo del Toro, Mark Gustafson, Gary Ungar and Alex Bulkley
- Marcel the Shell with Shoes On, Dean Fleischer Camp, Elisabeth Holm, Andrew Goldman, Caroline Kaplan and Paul Mezey
- Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, Joel Crawford and Mark Swift
- The Sea Beast, Chris Williams and Jed Schlanger
- Turning Red, Domee Shi and Lindsey Collins
Film editing
- The Banshees of Insherin, Mikkel E G Nielsen
- Elvis, Matt Villa and Jonathan Redmond
- Everything Everywhere All at Once, Paul Rogers
- Tár, Monika Willi
- Top Gun: Maverick, Eddie Hamilton
Cinematography
- All Quiet on the Western Front, James Friend
- Bardo, False Chronicles of a Handful of Truths, Darius Khondji
- Elvis, Mandy Walker
- Empire of Light, Roger Deakins
- Tár, Florian Hoffmeister
Visual effects
- All Quiet on the Western Front, Frank Petzold, Viktor Müller, Markus Frank and Kamil Jafar
- Avatar: The Way of Water, Joe Letteri, Richard Baneham, Eric Saindon and Daniel Barrett
- The Batman, Dan Lemmon, Russell Earl, Anders Langlands and Dominic Tuohy
- Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Geoffrey Baumann, Craig Hammack, R. Christopher White and Dan Sudick
- Top Gun: Maverick, Ryan Tudhope, Seth Hill, Bryan Litson and Scott R. Fisher
Make-up and hairstyling
- All Quiet on the Western Front, Heike Merker and Linda Eisenhamerová
- The Batman, Naomi Donne, Mike Marino and Mike Fontaine
- Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Camille Friend and Joel Harlow
- Elvis, Mark Coulier, Jason Baird and Aldo Signoretti
- The Whale, Adrien Morot, Judy Chin and Anne Marie Bradley
Production design
- All Quiet on the Western Front, Christian M. Goldbeck; Set Decoration: Ernestine Hipper
- Avatar: The Way of Water, Dylan Cole and Ben Procter; Set Decoration: Vanessa Cole
- Babylon, Florencia Martin; Set Decoration: Anthony Carlino
- Elvis, Catherine Martin and Karen Murphy; Set Decoration: Bev Dunn
- The Fabelmans, Rick Carter; Set Decoration: Karen O’Hara
Supporting actor
- Brendan Gleeson, The Banshees of Inisherin
- Judd Hirsch, The Fabelmans
- Brian Tyree Henry, Causeway
- Barry Keoghan, The Banshees of Inisherin
- Ke Huy Quan, Everything Everywhere All at Once
International feature film
- Argentine 1985
- Close
- EO
- All Quiet on the Western Front
- An Cailín Ciúin/The Quiet Girl
Original song
- Applause, Tell It Like a Woman
- Hold My Hand, Top Gun: Maverick
- Lift Me Up, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
- NaatuNaatu, RRR
- This Is a Life, Everything Everywhere All at Once
Original score
- All Quiet on the Western Front, Volker Bertelmann
- Babylon, Justin Hurwitz
- The Banshees of Insherin, Carter Burwell
- Everything Everywhere All at Once, Son Lux
- The Fabelmans, John Williams
Documentary feature
- All That Breathes, Shaunak Sen, Aman Mann and Teddy Leifer
- All the Beauty and the Bloodshed, Laura Poitras, Howard Gertler, John Lyons, Nan Goldin and Yoni Golijov
- A House Made of Splinters, Simon Lereng Wilmont and Monica Hellström
- Fire of Love, Sara Dosa, Shane Boris and Ina Fichman
- Navalny, Daniel Roher, Odessa Rae, Diane Becker, Melanie Miller and Shane Boris
Documentary short
- Haulout, Evgenia Arbugaeva and Maxim Arbugaev
- The Martha Mitchell Effect, Anne Alvergue and Beth Levison
- The Elephant Whispers, Kartiki Gonsalves and Guneet Monga
- How Do You Measure a Year? Jay Rosenblatt
- Stranger at the Gate, Joshua Seftel and Conall Jones
Live-action short
- An Irish Goodbye, Tom Berkeley and Ross White
- Ivalu, Anders Walter and Rebecca Pruzan
- Le Pupille, Alice Rohrwacher and Alfonso Cuarón
- Night Ride, Eirik Tveiten and Gaute Lid Larssen
- The Red Suitcase, Cyrus Neshvad
Animated short
- The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse, Charlie Mackesy and Matthew Freud
- The Flying Sailor, Amanda Forbis and Wendy Tilby
- Ice Merchants, João Gonzalez and Bruno Caetano
- My Year of Dicks, Sara Gunnarsdóttir and Pamela Ribon
- An Ostrich Told Me the World Is Fake and I Think I Believe It, Lachlan Pendragon
Adapted screenplay
- All Quiet on the Western Front, Edward Berger, Ian Stokell and Lesley Paterson
- Knives Out: The Glass Onion
- Living, Kazuo Ishiguro
- Top Gun: Maverick, Eric Warren Singer, and Christopher McQuarrie from a story by Peter Craig and Justin Marks
- Women Talking, Sarah Polley
- Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, Rian Johnson
Original screenplay
- The Banshees of Inisherin, Martin McDonagh
- Everything Everywhere All at Once, Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert
- The Fabelmans, Tony Kushner and Steven Spielberg
- Tár, Todd Field
- Triangle of Sadness, Ruben Östlund
Sound
- All Quiet on the Western Front, Viktor Prášil, Frank Kruse, Markus Stemler, Lars Ginzel and Stefan Korte
- Avatar: The Way of Water, Julian Howarth, Gwendolyn Yates Whittle, Dick Bernstein, Christopher Boyes, Gary Summers and Michael Hedges
- The Batman, Stuart Wilson, William Files, Douglas Murray and Andy Nelson
- Elvis, David Lee, Wayne Pashley, Andy Nelson and Michael Keller
- Top Gun: Maverick, Mark Weingarten, James H. Mather, Al Nelson, Chris Burdon and Mark Taylor
Costume design
- Babylon, Mary Zophres
- Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Ruth Carter
- Elvis, Catherine Martin
- Everything Everywhere All at Once, Shirley Kurata
- Mrs Harris goes to Paris, Jenny Beavan
Supporting actress
- Angela Bassett, Black Panther: Wakanda forever
- Hong Chau, The Whale
- Kerry Condon, The Banshees of Inisherin
- Jamie Lee Curtis, Everything Everywhere All at Once
- Stephanie Hsu, Everything Everywhere All at Once
