Screen International is profiling all the winners of the third Global Production Awards, which were held tonight (May 19) at the Mademoiselle Gray Barriere in Cannes.
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Award
Winner: A Quiet Love (Curious North Productions, Ireland)
To win this hotly contested award, a production had to demonstrate a commitment to diversity, equity, inclusivity and accessibility in its production crews and on set.
This year’s award was given to documentary A Quiet Love, Ireland’s first feature in Irish sign language, which revolves around four deaf couples who detail how they met and fell in love. It is produced by the deaf and hearing team of Sean Herlihy and Anne Heffernan of Ireland’s Curious North Productions, and directed by Garry Keane.
The judges were impressed not only by the documentary’s subject, but how diversity played a key part in the production’s thinking and planning. The decision-making team included deaf members and the film employed 28 members of the deaf community in various roles.
Judges also pointed to the fact the production created a bespoke training programme, giving members of the non-hearing community the opportunity to work on the film, established use of sign language in the production environment and created opportunities for the hearing crew to learn how to sign.
“This production is the very definition of how diversity, equity and inclusion should work,” said one judge. “It was not only the story that was wonderfully diverse, it was the thoughtfulness that was behind the camera with a deaf producer, and with the training of crew and also helping to develop deaf directors in Ireland. Very inspirational.”
- Nominees:
- Blood Legacy (Gambit Films, South Africa)
- Empowered (MirrorWater Entertainment, US)
- Move Like An Awesome Animal (Final Pixel, Three Arrows Media & Sky Kids, UK)
- Never Look Away (GFC Films, New Zealand)
- The Club That George Built (whynow Studios & TNT Sports, UK)
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