Oscar nights are made for red carpets, golden statues and standing ovations and in that respect the Bantry Blues OsKaRs exceeded expectations.
OSCAR nights are made for red carpets, golden statues and standing ovations and in that respect the Bantry Blues OsKaRs exceeded expectations.
The 800 people who turned up for the two-night extravaganza – including all the local movie stars, producers, and sponsors – laughed until they cried during the showing of the seven locally-made movies.
The Snapper, The Field, Bridesmaids, Castaway, Fr Ted, Man About Dog and The Hangover all had their golden moments and won awards in one or more of the eight categories on either the Friday or the Saturday night.
But event organiser Sandra Maybury of PLANtastic Events, said: ‘Many of those present will say it was Damien O’Donovan’s OsKaRs win for his role in Fr Ted, and his standing ovation on Saturday night, that was one of the most memorable moments of the entire weekend.’
The OsKaRs – with the support of media partner, The Southern Star, and the main sponsor Val Whooley Plant Hire Ltd – was held as a fundraiser for the further development of the Wolfe Tone Park. The GAA club was broadly represented on the night and the club chairman, Pat Joe Connolly, thanked everyone who took part.
Within days of the events being announced, it seemed to have caught everyone’s imagination and soon half the town was enlisted in its madcap adventures.
Local businesses were generous too in sponsoring the productions: The Boston Bar, The Bank House on Whiddy, Bantry Tyre Centre, Zenith Energy/Diageo, Kelly & Co and Bantry Skip Hire, The Quay’s Bar, and Bantry Bath & Tile all enthusiastically supported these endeavours and those who really should know better (Albie you know who you are) donned a disguise and stole a moment or two on screen. Some of them (Albie again) even shamelessly plugged their businesses!
FM104 presenter Adrian Kennedy was helpless with laughter on Friday night as he tried to interview Brendan Hayes – who played the wayward ‘Alan’ in The Hangover – before he was presented with his ‘best supporting actor’ award.
Another clear crowd pleaser was Tommy Barry who just stopped short of chewing the scenery in his scene-stealing debut as Dessie Curley in The Snapper.
There are too many outrageously funny moments to mention, but ask anyone and they will say that Kathleen Casey’s legendary dash for the ‘loo’ in Bridesmaids had people weak with laughter. The woman will never live it down! But maybe she won’t want to, considering that she now has a golden statue as her personal reminder.
There are also too many awards to mention, but it must be said that The Field won Best Film on Friday night, while on Saturday, the presenter, Dave Harrington, saw the golden statue go to The Snapper. Regardless of who got what, if you spoke anyone who was actually there, they would – hand on heart – say they were all winners.
