‘Saving the Titanic’ wins three awards at the British Independent Film Festival
The awards keep rolling in for Tile Films' acclaimed drama-documentary "Saving the Titanic". Over the past fortnight, the film has received recognition at two major awards ceremonies in the U.K. It won three awards at the British Independent Film Festival, held at the Empire Cinema in Leicester Street, London, on Saturday May 4th: Best Director (Maurice Sweeney), Best Supporting Actor (Ciaran McMenamin) and Best Feature Film (Stephen Rooke). This resounding endorsement comes shortly after "Saving the Titanic" scooped the award for Best Feature-length Drama at the Celtic Media Festival, held at Swansea on April 24th-26th.
The British Independent Film Festival's stated aim is "to encourage that ardent and resourceful spirit that drives filmmakers to create work even when it seems impossible". Producer Stephen Rooke feels that this spirit was very much in evidence during the making of "Saving the Titanic": "Telling the story of what happened to the engineering crew on the Titanic's maiden voyage was always going to be an ambitious undertaking. We wouldn't have been able to produce this film if it hadn't been for the strong support of the Irish Film Board, RTÉ and the BAI's Sound & Vision Broadcasting Funding Scheme. But it was a difficult process, because we had to pull the rest of the finance together from a variety of sources and ultimately we had an extremely tight budget for a very ambitious film. So it's brilliant to get this recognition for all involved." For director Maurice Sweeney, the awards are a powerful endorsement not only of his own work, but also that of the film's outstanding cast and crew: "For myself, it's brilliant to get the best director gong. But for the film to scoop three awards overall is a major triumph and another important acknowledgment of the fantastic Irish cast and crew who worked on the project. I thought the cast in particular were outstanding, and while it would be hard to praise one actor over another, Ciarán McMenamin was an absolute tour-de-force as Fred Barrett. I'm delighted to see him receive the Best Supporting Actor award."
"Saving the Titanic" is currently being screened in 12 cinemas across the UK as part of the British Independent Film Festival.
The film also received the Best Feature-length Drama award at the Celtic Media Festival, held in Swansea on April 24th-28th. In nabbing the award, "Saving the Titanic" beat off strong competition from Welsh feature film "The Gospel of Us", starring Hollywood actor and BAFTA award-winner Michael Sheen.
Other recent awards garnered by "Saving the Titanic" include the coveted Gold World Medal Award for best docudrama at the New York Festivals, and the Award of Excellence: feature film at the Accolade Competition in California.
"Saving the Titanic" was produced by Tile Films in Dublin and is a co-production with Gebrueder Beetz Filmproduktion in Germany, produced in association with Bord Scannán na hÉireann/Irish Film Board, RTÉ, Broadcasting Authority of Ireland - Sound and Vision Broadcasting Funding Scheme, Windmill Lane Pictures Ltd., Section 481 - Ireland's Film Investment Scheme, AETN/History UK, ZDF and ZDFE Enterprises. International distribution is handled by ZDF Enterprises.