Two graduates of CDCFE’s BA in Film & Television Production have been nominated for Best Short Film in this year’s IFTA’s.
Best Foot Forward depicts a day in the life of artist Mary Duffy, a painter born without arms. The six-minute film is directed and produced by Film & Television Production BA graduates Sean Hart and Bill McHugh. It has been successful on the film festival circuit in both Ireland and abroad. Other nominations in this year’s IFTAs include Kenneth Branagh’s Belfast and RTE’s hit drama Kin. The ceremony will be screened on Virgin Media One on the 12th of March.
Sean Hart who produced the film, discovered Mary Duffy, from Newcastle Co Wicklow, while he was researching artists for a college project. Duffy has had documentaries made about her before, but Sean says “I knew that only a fraction of her personality and stories had been shown in the previous documentaries and that they also portrayed her through the same lens. She was portrayed as a woman with a disability who creates art, never simply a great artist.”
On receiving an IFTA nomination for Best Foot Forward Sean commented “I was still trying to wrap my head around its success on the festival circuit and the IFTA nomination came out of nowhere. I’m still in shock really. I can say with certainty that the film wouldn’t have been half as good if it wasn’t for the advice and help of the tutors in Coláiste Dhúlaigh”.
Film Degree course coordinator Leticia Agudo said “these films were made during a very difficult academic year, under the restrictions and hardship of the Covid 19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021. Staff and students at the college adapted and strived to still make films under the circumstances, and we’re very proud of the achievements of all the films.”
Best Foot Forward’s producer Bill McHugh studied on Coláiste Dhúlaigh’s two year Higher National Diploma (HND) in Film Production before completing the final Top Up Degree year that is accredited by University of Wolverhampton and delivered on site in CDCFE’s Coolock campus. The film’s director Sean Hart studied the Film & TV HND in Bray Institute of Further Education before coming to CDCFE.
This year’s IFTA shortlist success follows previous nominations for Animation BA graduate Aidan McAteer for his short animation Streets of Fury in 2020. Applications for the Film & Television BA, as well as all other courses beginning in September are now open at www.cdcfe.ie/apply
