Last night, Ireland got its first, long overdue spotlight on music video directors of this country at the IMTV Video Music Awards. The inaugural event saw Eoghan Kidney win three awards including Best video for Valerie Francis’ Punches, Best Director and Best Original Concept. It was a great night, a celebration of the creativity of largely under-resourced folk and a timely reminder that Irish music videos are as vital as ever, which is something we are finally seeing again with Under the Ether and Una Mullally’s forthcoming TG4 series in 2010.
Most importantly, I hope awards like this continue to inspire directors and their production teams to the point where we see even better videos win next year. There are some bloody great ones here all the same. Congrats to IMTV for putting on a great event. FYI: I was one of the judges for the awards.
Here are the winners:
Best Live Video
Winner: And So I Watch You From Afar – Set Guitars to Kill (Dir: Will McConnell)
Lisa Hannigan – I Don’t Know. (Dir: Donal Dineen)
Lisa Hannigan – Lille. (Dir: Will Mcconnell)
Ladydoll – Button
The Brilliant Things – Rise
Best Dance Video
Winner: Le Galaxie – You Feel the Fire (Dir: Killian Broderick)
Le Bien – Here And There (Dir: Eoghan Kidney)
Noise Control – Addiction (Dir: Conor Maloney & Graham Halpin)
Dark Room Notes – Lets Light Fires (Dir: Keith Doyle)
Arveene & Misk – Hells Bells (Dir: Morgan Weims)
Best Styled Video
Winner: Julie Feeney – Impossibly Beautiful (Dir: Victoria Colohna)
Dirty Epics – Coming Up (Dir: Vincent Gallagher)
Laura Izibor – Shine
The Coronas – Listen Dear (Dir: Simon Eustace)
The Blizzards – Postcards (Dir. Heroes For Zeros)
Best Solo Male
Winner: Pearse McLoughlin – Ways to Kill A Werewolf (Dir: Kevin Mcgloughlin)
Yngve – Little Boy (Dir: Kellye Carnahan)
Padraig Rushe – Gonna Be A Change. (Dir: Tom Burke & Shane Hogan)
Jj – Playing The Game (Dir: Thomas Heffernon & Kay Madsen)
Enda Reilly – Mol An Aimsire (Dir: Dominick Ó Cruadhlíocht)
Best Solo Female
Winner: Wallis Bird – To My Bones
Lisa Hannigan – Lille
Julie Feeney – Love Is A Tricky Thing (Dir: Vittoria Colonna)
Miss Paula Flynn – Holiday In Sweden (Dir: Chris Fite-Wassila)
Gemma Hayes – Home. (Dir: Mhaskar)
Most Original Concept
Winner: Fight Like Apes – Something Global (Dir: Eoghan Kidney)
The Chapters – Videotapes (Dir: Simon Eustace)
Herm – Heads (Dir: Ian Benjamin Kenny)
Grand Pocket Orchestra – Ballet Shoes (Dir: Luke Franklin)
Sean Needham – I’m Not Afraid (Dir: Declan Hannigan)
Best Production/ Special Effects
Winner: Cap Pas Cap – We Are Men (Dir: Sam Boyd)
Sickboy – Silence In Conversation (Dir: Lorcan Finnegan)
Jape – Floating (Dir: D.A.D.D.Y.)
Ham Sandwich – Broken Glass (Dir: Marc Corrigan)
202′S – Ease My Mind. (Dir: Paddy Cahill / Jules Hackett)
Best video by a Newcomer (public vote)
Winner: Bowlegged – Red Light (Dir. Peter J McCarthy)
Hogan – I Want You
Hoarsebox – All I Need Now
Bats – Shadow Fucking (Dir: Conor Mcintyre & Timmy Moran)
Talulah Does The Hula – Bad Boyfriend (Dir: Jessie Ward)
Director of the Year
Winner: Eoghan Kidney
Lorcan Finnegan
Simon Eustace
Lindsey Byrnes
Will Mcconnell
Video of the Year
Winner: Valerie Francis – Punches (Dir: Eoghan Kidney)
Duckworth Lewis Method – Mr Miriad
Fight Like Apes – Tie Me Up In Jackets (Dir: Eoghan Kidney)
The Coronas – Listen Dear (Dir: Simon Eustace)
The Blizzards – Postcards (Dir: Heroes for Zeros)
