AN INNOVATIVE Irish language crime thriller has been chosen to represent Ireland at the 2027 Oscars.
The Irish Film & Television Academy (IFTA) has announced that Aontas has been selected for the International Feature Film category at the 99th annual Academy Awards next year.
Told in reverse chronology, the film follows three unlikely thieves, led by a woman on the verge of a breakdown, who rob a rural Irish Credit Union.
Opening in the tragic aftermath of the heist gone wrong, what starts as a poorly-executed robbery becomes a portrait of a wilful woman trapped in her own past.
“IFTA is delighted to announce that Aontas will represent Ireland in the upcoming International Feature Film category at the Oscars,” said Áine Moriarty, IFTA Chief Executive, who also praised the ‘powerful female performances at its core’.
“This wonderful Irish language film is resonating with audiences worldwide — congratulations to the filmmakers, cast and crew,” she added.
International awards
Directed by Damian McCann, Aontas stars Carrie Crowley, Bríd Brennan, Eva-Jane Gaffney, Seán T Ó Meallaigh, Marcus Lamb and Art Parkinson.
Written by McCann and Sarah Gordon, it was produced by Órfhlaith Ní Chearnaigh and Christopher Myers for Púca Pictures.
It also received funding from TG4, BBC Gaeilge and Northern Ireland Screen’s Irish Language Broadcast Fund as well as support from Yellowmoon.
The film follows in the footsteps of the 2022 Oscar-nominated An Cailín Ciúin and 2024’s Oscar-shortlisted Kneecap, which both featured the Irish language as well as English.
The only other Irish entry to be shortlisted for the award was Viva in 2013, a Spanish language film directed by Irishman Paddy Breathnach and written by compatriot Mark O’Halloran.
Aontas will compete with other films from around the world in non-English languages to be nominated for next year’s Academy Awards.
The film, which received six nominations at this year’s IFTA Awards, premiered at the 2025 Santa Barbara International Film Festival.
It has since screened at 40 film festivals worldwide, picking up 10 international awards along the way.
‘Staggering graft and boundless optimism’
“We’ve been overwhelmed by the film’s journey so far — what feels like a very specifically Irish story seems to have really resonated with International audiences,” said McCann.
“My co-writer Sarah Gordon and I wrote the script in the attic of our house and we shot over 18 rainy days in the Glens of Antrim.
“We could never have imagined that this is where the journey might take us, but it’s a testament to the staggering graft and boundless optimism of our cast and crew.
“I’m particularly proud to follow the Irish language films that have already blazed this trail — the result of a deliberate and ambitious decades-long investment in filmmaking as Gaeilge.
“In that spirit I’s like to thank the film’s funders, (the same people who have been backing my work for 20 years) the Irish Language Broadcast Fund, TG4, BBC Gaeilge and Yellowmoon.”
The shortlist for the International Feature Oscar will be announced on Tuesday, December 15, 2026 and the final five nominees will be announced on Thursday, January 21, 2027.
The 99th Academy Awards will take place in Los Angeles on Sunday, March 14, 2027.
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