Colm Bairéad resigned himself to walking away empty-handed from the Irish Film and TV awards in March. His tiny-budget Irish language drama The Quiet Girl was up against Kenneth Branagh’s multi-Oscar-nominated juggernaut, Belfast. “We were like: ‘OK, well, that was lovely.’ We’d got 10 nominations. We’re just happy with that, you know?’”
But, on the night, The Quiet Girl swept the board, with eight wins, including best film. “Winning all those awards was, er, extraordinary.” Bairéad, 41, looks mildly embarrassed. He is modest and thoughtful, not fully relaxed at being the centre of attention. I suspect that the hour we spend chatting at the Soho offices of the film company distributing his film is about 59 minutes too long for him.
