Irish Film “Once” Wins Sundance Award
January 29th, 2007 by EoinThe Irish film Once has won the World Cinema Audience Award in the dramatic category at Robert Redford’s Sundance Film Festival. From director John Carney, who brought us Bachelor’s Walk, Once is a modern day musical about a busker, played by Glen Hansard, who falls in love with a Czech singer/songwriter, played by Marketa Irglova.
John Carney was once a member of The Frames - for whom Glen Hansard is the lead singer - but left to pursue a film-making career after shooting some music videos for the band. Glen and Marketa worked together previously on The Swell Season and some of the songs from that album feature in this film.
Following on from The Wind That Shakes The Barley taking the Palme D’Or at the last Cannes Film Festival, it is another encouraging sign for the Irish Film Industry.
Once was made for €100,000 over a period of two weeks and shot on Digital Video. It now looks set to be picked up by one of the major distributors in Hollywood.
For more information check out this review, this interview with John Carney, this live performance from Sundance and this report from Sundance.
Entries (RSS)
January 29th, 2007 at 4:39 pm
Christ, it’s Other Voices: The Movie!
January 29th, 2007 at 4:45 pm
Ha ha ha ha… the trailer certainly doesn’t seem to show off what it is that has the critics drooling over it.
I like the Frames, and I like the Glen and Marketa album, but I had to laugh when I read what Blogorrah said about the movie:
“We hope there’s a scene where everything slows down and goes really, really quiet and then builds up again and gets really REALLY LOUD.”
February 5th, 2007 at 12:45 pm
More good news as Fox Searchlight picks up Once.
March 25th, 2007 at 6:14 pm
i dont no why the critics are raging over this film, its not even that good.
March 26th, 2007 at 5:38 pm
hey
thought the movie was fab, loved it. Can I buy the sound track any where
March 27th, 2007 at 1:14 am
Haven’t seen it yet myself, but any Irish film that isn’t set on a farm is good news as far as I’m concerned. I’ll hopefully get in to see it soon.
Emer as far as I know there isn’t a soundtrack available for this movie yet, but I think you’ll find the songs you are looking for on The Swell Season.
March 31st, 2007 at 2:43 am
Again Glen bashers strike at Blogorrah, and again, despite really liking the Frames I had to laugh.
April 1st, 2007 at 1:02 am
What can you say about this movie only fantastic. If you have a love for music then this is a must see. Its amazing that this film was put together on such a small budget. This is a movie that will pull on the heart strings and the music will play in you mind long after the movie has ended. Go and see it.
October 25th, 2007 at 2:55 am
I saw the film ‘Once’ two weeks ago on a flight to Thailand. I was totally gobsmacked by it. I had never heard of it before, let alone it being up for any award etc. The songs are beautiful and the melodies just blow you away. If you are a lover of true music and it’s proper qualities, then this is a must see film for you. Absolutely astounding. I don’t know what else to say except see it for yourself. You won’t be disappointed.
December 3rd, 2007 at 4:33 pm
SEEN THIS FILM SATURDAY, LOVED IT, MUSIC IS BRILLIANT AND LIKE EMER CANT WAIT TO GET THE SOUNDTRACK, LOVED THE MUSIC, GREAT LOW BUDGET FILM, WELL DONE!
December 3rd, 2007 at 5:26 pm
That’s funny. I saw it myself on Saturday night on DVD. Kept missing it in the cinema! I didn’t like it at all. The music is great but that is all the film has going for it. There is no story and really I just felt it was a waste of wonderful songs to piece them together like that. I did like the closing shot of Marketa Irglova and as I watched it I wished the film had been more like Brief Encounter with Glen Hansards wonderful music thrown in. Now that would have been a great film!
December 3rd, 2007 at 5:29 pm
WELL OK STORY LINE WAS BASIC AND DIDNT EVEN HAVE THE ENDING I EXPECTED BUT MUSIC FOR ME MADE UP FOR IT ALL. WUD LOVE THAT SOUNDTRACK NOW AS A RESULT BUT FOR LOW BUDGET FILM WAS WELL DONE I THOUGHT AND GREAT TO SEE SOME DUBLIN SIGHTS TOO
December 3rd, 2007 at 6:38 pm
I guess the music wasn’t enough for me as I was familiar with most of the songs from The Swell Season (see Amazon Ad above). As far as the low budget film goes I don’t believe there is ever an excuse for a bad story. Low budget or hight budget the film-makers should be able to get that right.
December 3rd, 2007 at 6:43 pm
OH GAWD UR A HARSH CRITIC ALRITE
MAYBE THATS THE GIRLIE SIDE OF ME SO THAT I LIKE IT! ITS BRILL THAT I CAN GET SOME OF THEM SONGS SO 
December 3rd, 2007 at 6:48 pm
I believe there’s a Once soundtrack around too but the best of them are on The Swell Season and that is a great album. Glen and Marketa worked on that album before doing the film Once. That’s why I’m so harsh on this film. The soundtrack that held the whole film together was taken from an already existing album.
I’d love to read the screenplay some time. It must be about 20 pages long after you take out all the songs.
December 3rd, 2007 at 6:52 pm
CANT FIND ANY ONCE SOUNDTRACK ALBUM SO WILL HAVE TO LOOK AGAIN, I LOVED THE SONGS AND WASNT REALLY A LISTENER OF THE FRAMES TO KNOW GLENS MUSIC BEFORE. OK I GIVE IN QUANTITY OF THE FILM WASNT AMAZING BUT WAS A GOOD FILM FOR A SATURDAY NITE IN WHEN IT WAS POURING RAIN OUTSIDE
December 3rd, 2007 at 6:56 pm
I suppose so. Unless you have to watch it with me…;)
December 4th, 2007 at 10:01 am
gawd now theres an offer
January 24th, 2008 at 12:44 am
[...] Daniel Day-Lewis got the expected Best Actor nomination for There Will Be Blood and is now the favourite to win, Saoirse Ronan got a nomination for her part in Atonement but it’s hard to see past Cate Blanchet for this year’s Best Supporting Actress award. Most surprising of all was Glen Hansard getting nominated for Falling Slowly from Once in Best Original Song. He was tipped to get a nomination but didn’t feature in the Golden Globes. Well he has the Oscar nomination now and will be performing Falling Slowly as part of the ceremony (if it goes ahead!). He might yet walk away with the little bald statue come February 24th. They won a Sundance award after all. [...]