Nominees 2024 | Underground Cinema

Our 2024 Nominees

Callus

When his daughter is born with an affliction warned of in fable, a widowed father struggles to defy the violent superstitions of their rural community.

Nominations

Best Short Film - Finbar Crotty

Best Director - Ciarán Hickey

Best Supporting Actor - John Quinn

Best Supporting Actress - Clare J Loy

1st AD Award - Jack O'Higgins

Best Sound Design - Rob Flynn

Where It All Began

A transgender woman arrives in her rural hometown for her mother's funeral and is met by the father she left behind.

Nominations

Best Short Film - Lee-Loi Chieng,
Eoin Quinn, Jayne Delahunt & Alan Dunne

Best Director - Alan Dunne

Best Actor - Lalor Roddy

Best Actress - Laylah Beattie

Best Screenplay - Alan Dunne

Barry V's The Binman

A down on his luck thirty-something becomes fixated on a feud with his bin collectors when they begin leaving his wheelie-bin in other people's driveways, all the while contending with his nightmare neighbours

Nominations

Best Comedy - Craig Moore

Best Supporting Actor - John Connors

Best Editor - Rossa O'Dowd and Craig Moore

1st AD Award - John Anderson Jnr.

Best Sound Design - Colin McKenna

Best Score - Padraig Ryan

Simon

A desperate call for help pushes Simon to the edge.

Nominations

Best Short Film - Rob Earley & Mark Griffin

Best Director - PeterJ McCarthy & Ben Conway

Best Actor - Aaron Monaghan

Best Screenplay - Ben Conway

Best Sound Design - Colm O'Rourke, Andrew Kirwan, Ciara Walsh

Best Cinematographer - Burschi Wojnar

Best Production Design - Micheál Fitzgerald

The Light Within - AN Irish Quaker Story

The film is a supernatural tale set in Rosenallis, Queen’s County, (Co. Laois, Ireland) in 1780 where Lydia, a teenager must defy her Quaker upbringing to save her ailing younger sister.

Nominations

Best Actress - Finnuala Gillen

Best Supporting Actress - Eliza Rae Butler

Best Score - Michael Fleming

Best Production Design - Eamonn Elders

Best Costume Design - Shiela Rebollo

Dead On Arrival

Dead On Arrival is a dark comedic short film about two nurses, one dead husband and zero morals.

Nominations

Best Comedy - Niamh McAllister

Best Editor - Joshua Mulhall

Best Sound Design - Maeve Mulholland

1st AD Award - Odhrán McNulty

Rising Star Award - Niamh McAllister

Room Taken

Having just arrived in Ireland, Isaac is part of the rapidly growing unhoused population. One day, while charging his phone in a coffee shop, he meets Victoria, an elderly blind woman. After forgetting her bag in the cafe, Isaac returns it to her. Once inside her home and in desperate need of a place to stay, Isaac sneaks upstairs and begins to live there, unbeknownst to Victoria. This leads to a series of unknown interactions in which Isaac works to stay hidden from a woman who experiences the world through sound. Eventually, a strange bond develops between the two.

Nominations

Best Short Film - Colmán Mac Cionnaith

Best Director - TJ Peyton O'Grady

Best Production Design - Ellen Kirk

Best Score - Jamal Green

Bean Feasa

The skeptical daughter of a traditional healer has her certainties challenged when she encounters one of 'the Good People'.

Nominations

Best Short Film - Maggie Ryan

Best Director - Daniel Butler

Best Cinematography - Philip Blake

Best Score - Liam McCabe

They Can't Know
About Me

A father secretly meeting young men for sex while on weekend shopping trips with his wife and young daughter faces a crisis when his secret risks being exposed.

Nominations

Best Actor - Richard McWilliams

Best Supporting Actress - Fiona O'Carroll

Best Screenplay Michael Carolan

1st AD Award - Barry Spillane

Marauders

A father and daughter live life on the fringes of a dystopian future. They kill two survivors of a gang skirmish leading to the arrival of a nefarious man who will hunt them down.

Nominations

Best Supporting Actor - Paul Butler Lennox

Best Cinematographer - Randal Plunkett

Best Production Design - David Costello

Best Costume Design - Carlos Garica & Stephanie Rosebud

If I Should Fall From The Grace Of God.jpg

If I Should Fall From Grace

A strange, dark figure stalks the city streets of Dublin at night; searching for death.

Nominations

Best Supporting Actor - Gerry Wade

Best Supporting Actress - Una Valaine

Best Cinematographer - Alan Dunne

Best Production Design - Conor McGowan

My Life With Brian

Kim and Chloe are close sisters who do everything together. While Chloe's head over heels with her new boyfriend Brian, Kim's smelling something rotten. With Brian chomping into their lives, Kim's sisterly time dwindles. But here's the kicker - everyone thinks Brian is great, except for Kim, who's dead set against this strange romance.

Best Comedy
Mollie Newman
Best Supporting Actress
Sorcha Fenlon
1st AD Award
Sarah Connolly

Vinny

Vinny is a short animated film that takes us on a nostalgic journey with an anthropomorphic vinyl record.
Through the ups and downs of the music industry, Vinny experiences the changes in style and format, and at times, struggles to remain relevant.
As time goes on, Vinny becomes a forgotten relic of the past, sitting on a shelf collecting dust, until fate intervenes and he makes a triumphant comeback.

Best Music Video
Declan Boyle
Best Animated Short
Declan Boyle

The House At The End Of The Lane

Dr. Peter Thomas (Patrick Bergin) is a retired psychiatrist who, while writing his memoirs receives a call notifying him of the apparent suicide of one of his former clients.
Intrigued by the case and influenced in his investigation by another former patient, Dr. Thomas embarks on a trip into his own dark past and the potential of reawakening his deepest and most dangerous desires.

Best Feature Film
Jason Figgis

I Made The Time Machine

When a burned-out university professor discovers a wild-eyed man claiming to be the legendary H.G. Wells, he’s dragged into the adventure of a lifetime. Wells isn’t just a famous author—he’s a time traveler stranded in the present, desperate to fix his busted time machine and get back to 1895. Joined by two curious students, the unlikely team dodges modern-day mishaps, tampered timelines, and a few too many history lessons as they race to repair the machine before time itself unravels.

Best International Film

Hectic

Dublin born, Ben Williams, is on course for being a huge star, not only in boxing, but as an influencer, a DJ and a fitness coach.
This Documentary digs deeper into the life of Ben, from early childhood, his injury, the training and everything in between as we follow him through the lead up of his debut fight for MisFits Boxing, which will sling shot him into the eyes of millions.
With a huge following that's growing rapidly, this fight could be the beginning of a very successful career in the sport.

Best Documentary
Ciaran Casey