Call it the luck of the Irish.
As the 5th iteration of North Carolina’s Film Fest 919 closed, co-founders Randi Emerman and Carol Marshall announced the recipient of the Audience Favorite Award. This year, two films tied for the festival’s top honor: Martin McDonagh’s The Banshees of Inisherin and Colm Bairéad’s The Quiet Girl. Both films should factor into this year’s Academy Awards race with The Quiet Girl serving as Ireland’s official International Feature Film submission.
“We had such a great time with everyone this year and were thrilled to be able to share this incredible lineup with a community of film lovers,” commented Emerman and Marshall.
Film Fest 919 closed with Rian Johnson’s Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery. Johnson was also honored with the Distinguished Screenwriter Award.
As previously mentioned, prior winners of the Audience Favorite Award included Oscar-winning Best Pictures Nomadland and Parasite as well as King Richard and C’Mon C’Mon.
For a complete listing of the films that screened at this year’s festival, please refer to their website.