BFF WINNERS 2023
Best Irish Experimental
In Velvet, Jessica Kennedy, Megan Kennedy,
An exquisite example of pure cinema. The story is told purely visually, has a lyricism to it, a distilled feeling, where everything but emotion is extracted, like a good poem. And some of the best child acting we’ve seen to boot. This film will move you, and you might not be quite sure why.
Best International Experimental
L' amour rebelle, Leo Crane
A stunning, intriguing, completely unique, animation. Has a sense of timelessness to it whilst at the same time being very modern in its themes.
Best Literature
They Call Me Bridget, Tzarini Rose Meyler
A film that gives voice to one of the most voiceless women in Irish history, They Call me Bridget is a resonant retelling, and Tzarina Meyler - who wrote the script, directs and stars - is a huge talent to watch out for.
Best Irish Poetry
Out of the Blue, Pat Boran
A liminal, lyrical ode to the sea, looking to both the past and future, concepts of home and belonging, beautifully observed with sharp-eyed clarity by Pat Boran.
Best International Poetry
What Athena saw when Tiresias Looked, Douglas Tyrrell Bunge, Ellen Renton
A riveting short from start to finish and executed to perfection, every element was used to its fullness to tell this story. The poem, the narrator, the powerful dance, the artistic choices that were made by Megan Robinson creating simple, clear and dynamic imagery, the directorial choices made by Douglas Tyrrell Bunge and the skilled cinematography in the hands of Oisín McFarland-Smith all culminate to create a joy of a short.
Irish Joycean Shorts
A Book, A Bible and A Beach, Liz Roche, José Miguel Jiménez
A very innovative, and refreshing short. It was well paced and had a lovely mix of inner and outer world about it with the meanderings of stories and the interpretive dance pieces woven together creating a landscape of modern Dublin while at the same time recounting times past.
Ray Harmon's score underpins the work which creates an unsettled feeling somehow and adds to the transient atmosphere of the piece.
Best Dublin Short Story
RELLO, Michael Creagh
An amusing but touching short film that portrayed both the tough reality of the Dublin streets, as well as the glimpses of beauty that are always just around the corner.
Best International Joycean Short
ULYSSES, Duane Michals
An irreverent, inventive and amusing Joycean take on the short film day-in-the life of the older artist — who used to be a fish.
Spirit of the Festival
A BOOK, A BIBLE AND A BEACH, Liz Roche, José Miguel Jiménez
A genre-defying film that could have fit comfortably into almost every section of the Bloomsday Film Festival - it sensitively and creatively allied snippets of Joyce's writing with contemporary stories, in a vibrant and engaging way, joyously celebrating language, place and physicality — much in the spirit of Joyce himself.
Best Feature, Aylin Kuryel, Fırat Yücel
Translating Ulysses
The subject and subject matter really captured us. With themes of eternal conflict, oppression, and colonialism - like Joyce’s Shem & Shaun - it is both political and universal, capturing what Joyce called ‘the infinite in the particular’ in a potent, urgent, 21st century tale that’s themes reverberate right back through the previous century and beyond. It reminds of what Stephen Dedalus says ‘History is a nightmare from which I am trying to awaken’
Best Overall Short
They Call Me Bridget, Tzarini Rose Meyler
The judges were unanimous in their praise for this short. They felt there was something essential about it. Something deep, and moving. Beautifully shot, written, and directed. A very exciting debut from a director we look forward to hearing more of in the future.
