Ireland celebrates historic Oscar success with 14 nominations

• Ireland received a record 14 Oscar nominations on Tuesday.
• Winning five of the 20 acting categories and, for the first time.
• Receiving a nomination for a feature picture that was shot in the country’s native tongue.

The dark comedy “The Banshees of Inisherin,” which was shot on an isolated island off the western coast of Ireland, received nine nominations in the haul, which took home the top spot on Ireland’s premier evening news programme and dropped politics to second place.

“Congrats to everyone who was nominated for an Irish Oscar! It is wonderful to witness Irish creative talent winning justly deserved acclaim on a global scale “Leo Varadkar, the prime minister, stated on Twitter. Using the Irish language, he said, “Comhghairdeas mór leis An Cailn Ciin – the first Irish language movie ever to receive a nomination,” praising Ireland’s first-ever nominee in the prestigious international film category.

For “The Banshees of Inisherin,” Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson, Kerry Condon, and Barry Keoghan all received their first-ever Oscar nominations, while Paul Mescal joined Farrell on the best actor shortlist for the independent film “Aftersun.” Calculations show that in the nearly 100-year history of the awards, only the United States and Britain, whose populations and film industries dwarf Ireland’s, have had five or more acting nominees in a single year.

In the craft categories, Ireland did particularly well, with nominations for the best visual effects and editing, while Martin McDonagh, a previous winner, added to his impressive Oscar resume with nominations for best director and best original screenplay for “Banshees.”

The movie is a favourite among bookmakers for best picture. Particular pride was saved for An Cailín Ciúin, a film that has put a language spoken day-to-day by a small minority on the global stage and beat filmmakers such as four-time Oscar winner Alejandro Inarritu to the final international film selection. “There was perhaps a notion out there that to make a film in the Irish language was a dead end creatively or commercially. I think that notion has been absolutely dispelled now,” director Colm Bairéad

“There’s no reason that Irish language filmmakers should limit their ambitions, they should be making films for the world.”

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