Clodagh Finn: Meet Josie MacAvin — Ireland’s unsung Oscar-winning set designer

Josie MacAvin, Ireland’s only Oscar and Emmy-winning set designer, left a legacy now proudly displayed at the Irish Film Institute

 Josie MacAvin, the only Irish person to win both an Academy Award and an Emmy. Picture: Irish Film Institute.

It isn’t every day that you come within touching distance of an Oscar statuette, not least one awarded to an Irishwoman. Yet — and we should be shouting this from the rooftops — that opportunity is available to anyone who visits the Irish Film Institute (IFI) in Temple Bar, Dublin.

I went there ahead of tomorrow’s Academy Awards ceremony to pay tribute to Josie MacAvin, the only Irish person to win both an Oscar and an Emmy, its TV equivalent. She donated both awards to the IFI in 1992 on the condition that they be publicly displayed.