Earlier this week it was announced that the Irish Film and Television Academy (IFTA) have teamed up with TV3 Group to hold and broadcast two awards ceremonies in May and October of this year. The fate of the IFTA Awards was in doubt after both the state broadcaster RTÉ and the Irish Film Board pulled their support of the awards following what was perceived as being a disastrous event last year.
Today the Irish Film Board has issued a statement with regards to their funding of the new awards ceremonies and stating their intention of undertaking a review of the full broadcast of the awards ceremony with RTÉ for 2016.
[Update] The IFB has confirmed that it is not their intention to hold an awards ceremony in 2016 irregardless of participation of IFTA in the review process.
The full text is as follows:
Due to difficulties with the broadcast of the Irish Film & Television Award ceremony in 2014 and a lack of evidence of sufficient funding provided for a full live broadcast ceremony in 2015, Bord Scannán na hÉireann/the Irish Film Board (IFB) made a decision last week not to provide support for a live or as live broadcast ceremony of the IFTAs in 2015.
As a funder of the Irish Film and Television Awards over the last decade, the IFB fully believes in the importance of ensuring that an Irish film and television award ceremony takes place on an annual basis and wishes to support an awards process, rewarding excellence in Irish filmmaking across feature films, TV drama, documentary and animation, which will contribute to the local and international promotion of Irish talent.
To this end, the IFB has made a decision to offer a reduced level of funding to IFTA in response to their application for one award ceremony for Film and TV drama only in 2015, which itself would not be broadcast live or as–live on television. This is to ensure that excellence within Irish filmmaking will continue to be rewarded this year and it is hoped that the ceremony will generate positive publicity and promotional opportunities for this year’s nominees and award winners across all press and TV media.
The IFB is also undertaking a review of the full broadcast of the awards ceremony with RTÉ for 2016. This process aims to engage with all industry stakeholders, with the objective of funding a show which reflects the needs and size of the Irish film, television and animation industry. The Irish Film and Television Academy has been invited to participate in this review process, as well as all of the industry guilds representing the chapters of creative talent working within the sector.