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Damian McCann’s heist film starring Carrie Crowley and Bríd Brennan will compete for a place on Academy Awards shortlist
Damian McCann’s heist film starring Carrie Crowley and Bríd Brennan will compete for a place on Academy Awards shortlist has announced Damian McCann’s Aontas is to be the nation’s submission for best international feature at the 2027 Academy Awards.
The breakneck Irish-language thriller, which had its world premiere at the Santa Barbara film festival back in February 2025, stars“Part of the enjoyment of Aontas is that it is a cinematic exercise in how far you can take a classic narrative and get away with it,” Fionnuala Halligan wrote in Screen Daily following its appearance at the 2025 Any country wishing to enter the best international feature race is invited to submit one film with a primarily non-English language dialogue track. Earlier this year, the rules were augmented to also allow in any film that wins top prize at one of six major international film festivals.
A shortlist of 15 films will be revealed on December 15I Am Not an Alcoholic: The anger never lasted long - but the consequences did‘Irish friend groups can be impenetrable – will I have the same issue when I move abroad? ’ Formerly titled best foreign language film, the award has, in recent years, gone the way of acclaimed titles such as Parasite, The Zone of Interest and Sentimental Value.
Ireland had notable success in 2023 when Colm Bairéad’swent all the way to the final nomination list, losing on Oscar night to Edward Berger’s All Quiet on the Western Front. In 2024, Rich Peppiatt’s Kneecap, raucous fictionalised biopic of that hip-hop troupe, made it on to the shortlist, but, in a modest upset, was not nominated for the Oscar.
In 2016, Paddy Breathnach’s Viva – a film spoken largely in Spanish – became the first ever Irish title to land on the shortlist. Each country has its own approach to the submission process. This year, Ifta assembled a committee including Áine Moriarty, the academy’s chief executive, and screen professionals Lisa McGee, Brian Kirk, Kathryn Ferguson and Lee Cronin.
“Ifta is delighted to announce that Aontas will represent Ireland in the upcoming International feature film category at the Oscars,” Moriarty said. “This wonderful Irish language film is resonating with audiences worldwide. Congratulations to the filmmakers, cast and crew”. Damian McCann, from Belfast, is known for his layered 2021 thriller Doineann, the first Irish-language feature produced in Northern Ireland.
Filmed in Glenarm, Co Antrim, Aontas is written by the director with Sarah Gordon. Órfhlaith Ní Chearnaigh and Christopher Myers produced the film for Púca Pictures with funding from Northern Ireland Screen’s Irish Language Broadcast Fund, BBC Gaeilge and TG4. The film was nominated for six Ifta awards earlier this year.
“It is such an honour that Aontas has been selected to represent Ireland at the 99th Academy Awards,” McCann said on hearing the news. “Thank you so much to Ifta and to the committee for their support. I was bringing some soggy washing in out of the rain when the news arrived – what a turnaround of a day. ”The Movie Quiz: Who never directed Philip Seymour Hoffman?
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