WFT is delighted to share that LAMB – an Irish short film by WFT Member Sinéad O’Loughlin – has qualified for consideration for the 2024 Academy Awards! LAMB, written & directed by Cork filmmaker and WFT Member Sinéad O’Loughlin, is a tense psychological thriller about an ordinary day that takes a sinister turn for a woman and her young child when a stranger walks into their isolated rural home. Starring Kerry actress Aoife Duffin (Moone Boy, Resistance) and Cork actor Éanna Hardwicke (The Sixth Commandment, Normal People, Vivarium, Smother), LAMB is the third short film by award winning filmmaker Sinéad O’Loughlin (Homecoming, Stray).
Shot in Youghal, Co. Cork, the film premiered at the Tribeca festival in 2022 and has since won 15 awards including Best Short Film at Dublin International Film Festival. Nominated for an Irish Film and TV Academy (IFTA) award earlier this year, Hardwicke has picked up two actor awards for his performance in the film. Lamb qualified for 2024 Academy Award consideration in the category of Best Live Action Short after winning an international award in August.
Speaking about the qualification, writer and director Sinéad O’Loughlin said:
Lamb explores the psychological negotiation that women undertake in order to navigate through the world safely. In Lamb we meet a woman on a day when her worst nightmare walks into her home and how she responds in real time to try to protect her child.
Lamb has been on an incredible journey so far and we are honoured to qualify for consideration for the 2024 Academy Awards® We are very grateful to have the film recognised in this way. I’d like to thank Screen Ireland and Copper Alley for their continued support and to our fantastic cast, crew and collaborators who made the film possible.”
Lamb is supported by Screen Ireland as part of its Focus Shorts scheme for emerging filmmakers with bold and original voices and was one of four projects chosen out of 130 applications for funding. The short is produced by award winning producer Lara Hickey (Bainne, Cynthia) for her production company Copper Alley Productions.
Full list of Awards and nominations for Lamb:
- Nominated for 2023 IFTA awards – Best Live Action Short
- First Prize Best Screenplay – Rhodes Island International Film Festival 2022
- Audience Award – Best Short Film – Cork International Film Festival 2022
- Best Short Film – Dublin International Film Festival 2023
- Best Sound Design (Die Hexen) – Fastnet Film Festival 2023
- Best Cinematography (Dan Keane) – Beara Film Festival 2023
- Best International Short Film – Bengalaru International Short Film Festival 2023
- Audience Award – Best Short Film – Bleeding Pig Film Festival 2023
- Best Director – Spookscreen Film Festival 2023
- Best Actor (Éanna Hardwicke) – Disappear Here Film Festival 2023
- Best Actor (Éanna Hardwicke) – Louth International Film Festival 2023
- Best Irish Short & Bloody Woman (Best Female Filmmaker) Award – Dark Hedges Film Festival 2023
- Best Irish Short – Ennis International Fantastic Film Festival 2023
- Best Short Film – Dublin Independent Film Festival 2023
- Best Script – Women in Film & TV Ireland Annual Short Film Showcase 2023
Key Cast & Crew:
Written & Directed by: Sinéad O’Loughlin
Produced by: Lara Hickey
Cast: Aoife Duffin, Éanna Hardwicke
DOP: Daniel Keane
Editor: Kilian Waters
Composer: Die Hexen
Production Design: Angela Mulhern
Costume Design: Sarah Heraughty
Bios:
About the Director – Sinéad O’Loughlin
Sinéad O’Loughlin is a Cork based writer & director. Previous work includes award winning Homecoming (2016) and Stray (2019), starring Tony Award winning actress Marie Mullen. She was selected for the Screen Ireland Focus Short award and an Arts Council Agility Award for her work in film. She is currently developing the feature film Stray with Arcade Film and has just completed her first feature screenplay Vocation with Copper Alley Productions, funded by Screen Ireland.
About the Producer – Lara Hickey
Lara Hickey is a multi-award winning Creative Producer with a First Class Honours MA in Screen Production and Film Finance from the National Film School IADT. She is the Co-Creative Director of X-POLLINATOR, a development initiative for female and non-binary creative talent, funded by Screen Ireland, Creative Europe and the Coimisiún na Meán with Co-director and founder Katie Holly & Evan Horan (Keeper Pictures). Lara has worked as Head of Development at Element Pictures, and is currently producing her first feature film SISTERS to be directed by Ariane Labed. She is a member of the European Producers Club, Screen Producers Ireland, Women in Film and Television, European Women’s Audio-visual Network (EWA) and the Irish Film and Television Academy (IFTA).
About Copper Alley Productions
Copper Alley Productions is a multi-award winning, IFTA nominated production company led by Lara & Jack Hickey. Since its creation Copper Alley has had short film work screened at over 75 international film festivals, including Tribeca, Stiges, and Fantastic Fest. It is a member of Screen Producers Ireland, IFTA, and the European Producers Club.
About Screen Ireland and Focus Shorts –
As the national agency for the Irish film, television drama, animation and documentary industry, Fis Eireann/Screen Ireland is the creative partner to the sector, investing in talent, creativity and enterprise. We are inspired by original storytelling that will emotionally move audiences at home and abroad. Through a wide range of practical funding supports across development, production, distribution, promotion and skills development, Screen Ireland supports the sector at every stage. We support filmmakers in their creative pursuit to share valuable artistic, cultural and commercial stories on screen.
Focus Shorts is a short film scheme for the making of live-action, fiction films that act as a proving-ground for Irish creative talents aspiring to write, direct and produce films for the cinema. Focus Shorts aims to encourage strong, original storytelling, visual flair, and production values appropriate to the big screen. It offers an opportunity for producers, directors and writers to work in a professional environment that will bring their experience up to a higher level and can be seen as a stepping stone for more ambitious projects.
