On Saturday, April 20, the Irish cinema, and Television Academy Awards will honour the finest in Irish theatre and cinema by announcing the winners of 28 distinct categories. Emmy Award-winning broadcaster Baz Ashmawy will be hosting the Awards for the first time.
The infamous Kinsella family is the subject of RTÉ's KIN, a drama series that has garnered 11 nominations for drama, including Best Drama, Lead Actor for Francis Magee and Sam Keeley, and Lead Actress for Clare Dunne.
Michael Smiley (Obituary), Éanna Hardwicke (The Sixth Commandment), and Daryl McCormack (The Woman in the Wall) are among the other nominees, so Magee and Keeley have some serious competition.
Dunne faces competition from Siobhán Cullen (Obituary), Caitriona Balfe (Outlander), Elva Trill (Northern Lights), Niamh Algar (Malpractice), and Sharon Horgan (Best Interests).
Blue Lights, Hidden Assets, Northern Lights, Obituary, and The Woman in the Wall are among the many domestic talents competing for the coveted Best Drama title.
With a staggering 13 nominations in the film categories, Lisa Mulcahy's gothic Irish story Lies We Tell is up for Best Picture, Lead Actor (David Wilmot), Lead Actress (Agnes O'Casey), and Best Director.
With Cillian Murphy (Oppenheimer), Andrew Scott (All of Us Strangers), Barry Keoghan (Saltburn), Barry Ward (That We May Face The Rising Sun), and Pierce Brosnan (The Last Rifleman) also in the running, it will be a fiercely contested race for the Lead Actor honour.
Similarly, in the Lead Actress category, O'Casey will face up against Geraldine McAlinden (Verdigris), Eve Hewson (Flora and Son), Saoirse Ronan (Foe), Bríd Brennan (My Sailor, My Love), and Jessie Buckley (Fingernails).
John McGahern's That They May Face The Rising Sun, Patricia Kelly's debut feature Verdigris, John Carney's Flora and Son, the whimsical sci-fi tale LOLA, and the pharmaceutical horror-thriller Double Blind are also nominated for Best Film.
This year's ceremony will recognise Stephen Rea with the Lifetime Achievement Award. The Oscar-nominated actor will receive the honour in recognition of his extraordinary contribution to the Irish and global film industries throughout the course of a five-decade career.