Preserving the Archive and Celebrating the Legacy of Radharc Films
THE RADHARC AWARDS 2024
Overture of Finalists
Congratulations to all our Winners:
CATEGORY ONE
Broadcast Documentary
WINNER
PATRICK – A YOUNG TRAVELLER LOST
A ground-breaking documentary addressing high suicide rates among the Irish Traveller community, focusing on the devastating story of 12-year-old Patrick McDonagh.
Produced by Alleycats Films – Ed Stobart, Executive Producer. Alan Bradley, Director.
HIGHLY COMMENDED
STARDUST
(Episode 3)
Telling the story of the 1981 nightclub fire which killed 48 young people, this episode covers the knock-on effect a tragedy of this magnitude has on an entire community – from broken relationships, to addictions and even suicides.
Produced by RTÉ – Máire Kearney, Producer and Director.
COMMENDED
INSIDE THE HOSPICE
Dealing with death and grief through unprecedented access to terminally ill patients, Inside the Hospice shows how people can live their best life, right to the end.
Produced by Flawless Films – Sharon Lawless, Producer and Director.
COMMENDED
THE LAST NUNS IN IRELAND
Writer and broadcaster, Dearbhail McDonald explores the role of Catholic religious sisters in Irish life and asks, “what if these are the last nuns in Ireland and will we miss them?”
Produced by Scratch Films – Liam McGrath, Executive Producer. Judy Kelly, Director.
COMMENDED
ONCE UPON A TIME IN NORTHERN IRELAND
(Episode 2)
It’s 1972 in Northern Ireland and community divisions have deepened and intensified. Many working-class Catholic and Protestant communities are in the grip of paramilitary organisations. This episode charts a deteriorating situation in which killings, explosions, intimidation and street disorder become widespread.
Produced by Keo Films and Walk on Air Films – Sian McIlwaine, Producer and Director.
CATEGORY TWO
Streaming Documentary
WINNER
TWO MOTHERS
After losing a baby late in pregnancy, Cathy turned to surrogate Ivanna in Ukraine, who safely carried her twins in 2019. When the war broke out, Cathy felt compelled to cross the border and carry out the family of the woman who had carried hers, knowing Ireland’s law only recognised the birth-mother.
Produced by Invisible Thread Productions – Zlata Filipovic, Producer. Anna Rogers, Director.
The Radharc Trust Award for Documentary at FRESH 2024
Presented to Nora Twomey of Cork for the film ‘DEVIL MAY CARE’
“May Casey, my great-grandmother had a secret political life which came to light from her military pension application for her involvement in the Irish Civil War.”
The Radharc films shone a light on untold stories of injustice, triumphs over adversity, and celebrated kindness and curiosity. Because of this, our Radharc at Fresh Award Jury always looks to find a young film-maker’s work that helps its audience understand the world a little better. This year it was especially impressed by the range of stories, the technical standard and the passion to highlight issues that affect young people. Choosing a winner is never easy, but one film demonstrated particular excellence in research and boldly used a wide array of production techniques, from dramatic reconstructions to the use of Archive material. All while managing to be personal and relevant. The Radharc Trust is delighted to present its 2024 Fresh Award to the short documentary ‘Devil may Care’.
Nora Twomey Winner of the Radharc Award at Fresh 2024
See it here: DEVIL MAY CARE
The Radharc Trust Award for Documentary at FRESH 2023
Presented to Rhianna Woods for the film ‘I’LL KNOW’
The entries for Radharc’s young documentary maker award at the Fresh Film Festival are always eagerly anticipated for their enthusiasm, craft, ideas and insight. This time the Jury was impressed by the poetic, personal and cinematic treatment of subject matter that is a familiar experience for young Irish people facing choices as they approach adulthood.
The Radharc Trust is pleased to present the 2023 Radharc at Fresh Award to Rhianna Woods’ short documentary ‘I’ll Know’.
Rhianna Woods Winner of the Radharc Award at Fresh 2023
The Radharc Trust Award for Documentary at FRESH 2022
Presented to Liam and Rachel O’Connor from Fís na hÓige Kerry for the film ‘THE JOYS OF JUSTIN’
The Radharc Award at the Fresh International Film Festival is given to an entry that catches the spirit of the Radharc programmes – so we were looking to recognise a film that shines a light on an untold story, that prods at our conscience and that helps us understand the world a little better. This time our jury noticed a film about a particular disability, with strong interview content and dynamic visuals, that showed us how a stability assistance dog is helping a young person to cope in daily life.
THE RADHARC AWARD 2021
Winning Entries
Following the deferment of the 2020 Radharc Awards due to COVID-19 pandemic restrictions, the Radharc Trust was pleased to proceed with ceremonies for the Radharc Awards on Thursday 21 October 2021. The Awards were presented to winners by Prof Brian MacCraith, Chair of the Future of Media Commission, who acknowledged the unique contribution of Radharc to Irish broadcasting history in his keynote speech and noted the challenge of preserving Irish public service broadcasting programming in a globalised media environment.
Awards were presented in Two Categories:
The Radharc Trophy for Category One, for TV documentary, was awarded to AN BHEARNA BHAOIL, produced by Midas Productions for TG4. Producer Medb Johnstone collected the Award.
The Radharc Trophy for Category Two, for documentary produced for digital distribution, was awarded to ENDLESS SUNSHINE ON A CLOUDY DAY produced by Cluster Fox Films by Tiernan Williams .
Certificates for Commended and Highly Commended productions were also awarded in both Categories.
Gallery of 2021 Finalists HERE
This event was co-sponsored by: The Broadcasting Authority of Ireland, RTÉ, TG4, Fís Éireann and Screenscene.
The Radharc Trust cares for and promotes the legacy of the Radharc Television Documentary Series. Active from 1962 to 1996, Radharc was an independent Irish TV production company which made over 425 programmes and shot in 75 countries. Our archives hold several thousand original production materials in Film, Tape, Photographic, Paper and Digital Collections and on-going digitisation projects release upgraded and restored titles through a range of public on-line, archival and broadcaster’s resources. Biennial Radharc Documentary Awards recognise and promote excellence in Irish Documentary making.
Radharc Award at Fresh International Film Festival.
Winners announced!
Over 400 documentary films made in 75 countries worldwide from 1962 to 1996
Location photographs were taken all over the world throughout Radharc’s 35 years
Thousands of Radharc production papers, research materials and correspondence
Announcement from the Radharc Archive: We hope you will enjoy our new Archive Gallery of featured images from the Radharc Photographic Collection, along with a new Archive Video Gallery where the full versions of all fifteen titles from the 2015 phase of our preservation work can be viewed on-line for the first time. Several of these programmes had not been seen in their original 1960s magazine format for decades and all were reassembled from original 16mm master elements, cleaned and digitised at high resolution. Of special interest will be the additional material, including recovered interview out-takes from ‘Christy Brown’s Left Foot’, reference audio recordings for missing voice tracks, new synopses, notes on the restoration process, and supplementary documents from the Paper Collection that allow the researcher to rebuild an authentic picture of lost segments.