College welcomes back rising stars of Hollywood

A COLLEGE in the Dublin suburb of Ballyfermot, which has been inextricably linked with this year’s Hollywood Oscars, yesterday previewed four potential winners.

Richie Baneham, Darragh O’Connell, Tomm Moore and Nicky Phelan returned to their alma mater to discuss their historic and respective Oscar nominations with students.

Baneham has worked on some of the biggest films in recent times, including The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe and the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

But his nomination in the visual effects category for Avatar, at $2 billion (€1.48bn) and growing, the biggest grossing film ever, is the one which has aroused most interest.

Last evening, he talked about his career to industry professionals and the students of Ballyfermot College of Further Education.

After the presentation, Baneham was joined on stage by other past pupils, Tomm Moore and Darragh O’Connell, for a question and answer session.

Moore is the director of The Secret of Kells, which is nominated for an Oscar in the best animation category.

O’Connell produced Granny O’Grimm along with another Ballyfermot graduate, Nicky Phelan.

They have both been nominated in the short film category at the Oscars for Granny O’Grimm.