It was a good night out for UK and Ireland talent at the 2024 Academy Awards.
UK-born Nolan’s Oppenheimer sweep is a victory of sorts for the UK, although the film is a US production, produced by the UK’s Emma Thomas. The film enabled a key triumph for Ireland, with its lead Cillian Murphy being the first Irish-born actor to win a best actor prize at the awards, with Murphy beaming in his acceptance speech: “I’m a very, very proud Irish man standing here tonight.”
Another first for the UK was a win in the international feature film category which went to UK filmmaker Jonathan Glazer’s The Zone Of Interest, a UK-US-Poland co-production, produced by Jim Wilson’s UK outfit JW Films with backing from long-time Glazer backer Film4. It prompted the most political acceptance speech of the night by Glazer, echoing Wilson’s speech at the Bafta Film Awards in February.
The Zone Of Interest also landed a win in the best sound category, for its UK team of sound designer Johnnie Burn and production sound mixer Tarn Willers.
Poor Things, produced by Ed Guiney and Andrew Lowe’s Dublin and London-based Element Pictures with backing from Film4, alongside Searchlight, also had a strong night, taking home four out of its 11 nominations: actress in a leading role for its US star Emma Stone, plus a raft of UK wins in craft categories, in the shape of production design for Shona Heath and James Price; costume design for Holly Waddington; and makeup and hairstyling for the team of Nadia Stacey, Mark Coulier and Josh Weston.
In total, Film4-backed projects took home six wins.
2023, by comparison, had presented a modest haul for UK-Irish films and talent.
UK talent was represented in four wins, for cinematography (All Quiet On The Western Front), sound (Top Gun: Maverick), live-action short (An Irish Goodbye), best animated short (The Boy, The Mole, The Fox And The Horse). Martin McDonagh’s The Banshees Of Inisherin –also a UK-US-Ireland co-production with nine nominations – walked away empty handed.
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