The Scripted award went to Cease, a film about the friendship between two girls. “The violent sexual assault and its aftermath, which is at the heart of the drama, is sensitively and skilfully dealt with,” said the judges.

Fatherly, which tells the story of a man who loses contact with his child, took the non-scripted prize. The judges said: “The story of the heartbreak of this young father is sympathetically told.”

Husky, Darragh Scott’s story of heroism in the old West, told with “chalk-on-a-blackboard style line drawings and with the fading and flickering appearance of an old movie” deservedly scooped the Animation award.

Craft Skills awards were made to National Film School students Ciara Rigney for To All My Darlings (Cinematography) and Daragh Goan for S.O.S (Script).

“Despite adverse circumstances, we had an amazing entry, both in quality and quantity,” said RTS Republic of Ireland Chair Agnes Cogan.

“The sheer invention and ingenuity with which our entrants tackled the daunting prospect of production in a time of lockdown was so impressive. We are filled with admiration for them.”

Leading figures from the world of Irish broadcasting presented the awards at an online ceremony in early March: Dee Forbes, Director-General of RTÉ; Alan Esslemont, Director-General of Irish language channel TG4; and Bill Malone, director of content at Virgin Media Television.

RTS Republic of Ireland Student Awards winners:

Animation

Husky

Darragh Scott, National Film School, IADT

 

Non-scripted

Fatherly

Karin Pritzel and Daniel Bolanos Meade, National Film School, IADT

 

Scripted

Cease

Aisling O‘Regan Sargent, Philip Emo, Dylan Keenan, Cormac Campbell and Keen Murphy, National Film School, IADT

 

Craft Skills – Cinematography

To All My Darlings

Ciara Rigney, National Film School, IADT

 

Craft Skills – Script

S.O.S

Daragh Goan, National Film School, IADT