Producer delights in bringing Oscar glory to Ireland

AN IRISH film producer said last night he was delighted to bring back the country’s first Oscar for 14 years.

The short film Six Shooter was the first Irish film to triumph at the annual Hollywood awards ceremony since Neil Jordan’s The Crying Game, which won the Oscar for best screenplay in 1992.

As the cast of Six Shooter publicly displayed the Oscar in Dublin for the first time, the film’s producer John McDonnell said it was a great boost for the industry.

“It’s playing on the world stage and it doesn’t get any bigger than the Oscars. So to have won one is great for us, it’s great for the film and it’s great for Irish films as well,” he said.

The short film, due to be released on DVD soon, stars Brendan Gleeson as a grieving widower who meets a talkative young man (Ruaidhri Conroy) on an Iarnrod Éireann train.

Its success has led to director Martin McDonagh being offered a three-film deal.

Mr McDonnell has been given the Irish Film Board’s Producer on the Move award to help him establish links with business partners in the international film industry.

During his 20 years in the film business, Mr McDonnell has worked on films such as Into the West, Braveheart and In the Name of the Father before founding his own company, Fantastic Films, in 2000.