The Irish Film Institute (IFI) has announced that the recipients of its 2004 awards for outstanding contribution to Irish film are Brendan McCaul, vice president and general manager of Buena Vista International, Ireland, and Rod Stoneman, director of the Huston School of Film and Digital Media and former chief executive of the Irish Film Board.

The awards will be presented on February 24 by the minister for Arts, Sports and Tourism, John O'Donoghue. The minister will also present the IFI's third annual Tiernan MacBride screenwriting award worth Euros 10,000, the only one of its kind in Ireland that recognises the role of screenwriters in the film-making process.

Over 200 screenplays were submitted for this year's award, the recipient of which will be announced at the ceremony on February 24. The judging panel, chaired by independent producer Ned Dowd, looks for 'innovative screenplays which display strong cinematic vision.' The award is named in honour of the late Tiernan MacBride, remembered as a staunch supporter of emerging filmmakers in Ireland.

Minister O'Donoghue will also announce details of an Irish cinema programme, 'Green Screen', a collaboration between the IFI and the Irish Film Board as part of a six-month cultural programme which celebrates Ireland's EU presidency. 'Green Screen' will showcase a number of recent Irish films in a tour of several of the states acceding to the EU on May 1.

The tour will take place from late March to early May when the films will be screened at two-day events in Bulgaria, Estonia, Malta, Latvia, Slovenia, Czech Republic, Poland and Cyprus. The programme will comprise three features, documentaries and short films, which will be shown in the Europa cinema in the capital of each country.