Short film nets award, but could Keano score an Oscar?
The 12-minute film, Rockmount, picked up the Tiernan McBride Award for best short drama at the Galway Film Fleadh, where it premiered on Saturday.
Not only did it bring glory for producer Dave Tynan and young actor Craig Keane Harrington — no relation to the Republic of Ireland assistant manager — it is also now in line for possible shortlisting for an Academy Award.
Since 2011, the winning movie in this category at Galway’s movie-fest has been eligible for consideration for the Oscars, something director Dave Tynan says he has not been thinking about too much since the win.
“I think the winners from dozens of film festivals get considered, so we’re not getting our hopes up. We’ll sit down in the next few days with the Irish Film Board and the distributors about trying to get it screened elsewhere, and hopefully this success should make other festivals sit up and take notice.”
As a fan of Keane since childhood, having seen him play for Manchester United as a 10th birthday present, the 28-year-old Dubliner was keen to keep the film authentically Cork.
“We’d love to get it to Asia, knowing how big United are over there but we’d need to work on subtitles. We have them done already, though, for places like Australia, where people might have trouble understanding a load of 11-year-olds from Cork,” he said.
As well as Craig from Ballincollig, who just turned 12, all the other main cast were locals.
The film tells of how Dave believes a young Roy might have played it as he battled for a first-team place at Rockmount, the club from where he joined Cobh Ramblers before going on to Nottingham Forest and Old Trafford.
For the star in the lead role, not only does he share a surname with the player-turned-manager, he also plays in central midfield for his own club, Wilton United, the position in which Keane excelled.
A Liverpool fan himself, Craig said he had no difficulty playing the part in the film, which he’d only had one viewing of before it showed in Galway’s Town Hall Theatre. “It felt kinda weird but I thought it looked great,” he said.
Proud dad Chris said he has been taking everything in his stride. “The film got a great response, a lot of people came up after to wish him well — some were joking that they wouldn’t dare mess with him,” he said.
Also qualifying for Oscar consideration was Fresh Cut Grass, which earned director Robert Cullen the James Horgan Award for best animation at the Film Fleadh on Sunday night. And there was a reminder at the awards ceremony of Ireland’s strong form for making it to the movie world’s biggest night, with Galway Hooker Awards for 1989 Best Supporting Actress Brenda Fricker, and twice-nominated animation company Brown Bag Films.
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