TODAY WAS A record day for Ireland’s film industry – the country can lay claim to 14 Oscar nominations, including the first for an Irish-language film.

Banshees of Inisherin was the big one, garnering nine nominations overall. Its star Colin Farrell received a Best Actor nomination, while fellow stars Brendan Gleeson and Barry Keoghan received Best Supporting Actor nominations and Kerry Condon received a Best Actress nomination. Its director Martin McDonagh was nominated in the Best Director category and the film was nominated in the Best Picture category.

It was also an amazing day for An Cailín Ciúin, which has become the first Irish-language film to be nominated in the Best International Feature Film category. We talked to the film’s director and producer recently about the work that goes into an Oscar campaign. 

On this week’s The Explainer podcast, we take a look at today’s extraordinary results and what it means for Irish film. Aoife Barry talks to Laura Byrne about all the nominations and what the favourites are to win. 
https://soundcloud.com/the-explainer-podcast/how-did-ireland-get-so-many-oscars-nominations

This episode was put together by presenter Laura Byrne, producers Aoife Barry and Nicky Ryan and executive producer Sinéad O’Carroll.