The Winners of the Radharc Awards October 2014.
There were 26 entries for Category 1 – the same as in 2012, but entries for Category 2 were down from 13 to only 4 which was disappointing.
The winner of the Trophy was Ms. Paula Keogh of Saoi Media for her production of ‘An Dubh Ina Gheal’ (‘Assimilation’) first broadcast on December 2013 on TG4. In this film Louis de Paor weaves a social and personal history about the complex relationship between the indigenous Australians and Irish immigrants who went to live there.
The Highly Commended Award was presented to Ruan Magan of Create One Media for his documentary ‘Lifers’ which was broadcast on RTÉ 1 in January 2013. The film tells the story of veteran Irish missionaries who spend their lives helping others with a view to perhaps never coming home.
The Commended Award was presented to Gerry Gregg of Praxis Pictures for his film ‘Close to Evil’, first broadcast on RTÉ in September 2014. It tells the story of Holocaust victim Tomi Reichental who discovers that one of his jailers is still alive. He sets out to investigate her claim that she is innocent and finds some unexpected results in the course of his investigation.
Tommy Reichental was at the event and he got a great reception from the guests.
The Radharc New Media Award for short documentaries was won by Niamh Heery of SwanSong Films for her film ‘Harmanli: Trapped on the Fringe of Freedom’ which first screened in the Lighthouse Cinema in June of this year. The film is about Syrian refugees living in a refugee camp in Bulgaria waiting endlessly for news of their refugee status in one of the poorest countries in the European Union.