Aviation finance company Avolon has been named as sponsor of a new film award at the Dublin International Film Festival.
The World Cinema Award is open to directors making their first to third feature, said Gráinne Humphreys, executive director of the festival. The inaugural award will be announced at the festival which runs from February 20th to March 2nd.
The judging panel will comprise actor Liam Cunningham, known for his role in Game of Thrones; Sundance Film Festival programmer and artistic director Ania Trzebiatowska; and Ciara Ruane, chief people officer at Avolon.
A shortlist of eight films was also announced. They included two Oscar-shortlisted productions Vermiglio and Santosh along with Peacock, On Falling, Sister Midnight, Pierce, Went Up the Hill and Good One.
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“One of the things that cinema can do is bring the world to our doorstep – we can celebrate the humanity of the world,” Mr Cunningham said.
As part of the collaboration, Avolon and the Dublin International Film Festival are launching an initiative called Avolon Access to increase access to the festival.
“Ticket prices are one of the main barriers to people going to see adventurous, cultural cinema” said Ms Humphreys, so the scheme will offer tickets either for free or at a discounted price. The festival expects to provide at least 5 per cent of the tickets for free through this initiative. That number will increase if there is appetite for the scheme.
The Dublin International Film Festival began in 2002 and has since screened more than 1,600 international films from more than 52 countries. Previous guests have included actors such as Al Pacino, Angela Lansbury, Brendan Gleeson, Daniel Day-Lewis and Julie Andrews.
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