The Irish Film & Television Academy (IFTA) has announced the nominations for the 2026 IFTA Awards, celebrating the best of Irish film and television across 29 Film and Drama categories.
The winners will be revealed at the 23rd IFTA Awards Ceremony on Friday, 20 February, at the Dublin Royal Convention Centre. The event will be hosted for a second consecutive year by comedian, actor and broadcaster Kevin McGahern.
Leading the film nominations is the Cork-set coming-of-age drama Christy, which has secured an impressive 14 nominations, including nods in the Best Film, directing and acting categories. Close behind is Saipan with 12 nominations, while Blue Moon received eight, Four Mothers earned seven, and Irish-language feature Aontas picked up six.
Chloé Zhao’s adaptation of Hamnet also features prominently, with four nominations. Jessie Buckley is shortlisted for Lead Actress for her portrayal of Agnes Hathaway, while Paul Mescal is nominated in the Supporting Actor category. The film also received nominations for International Film and Best Screenplay, credited to Maggie O’Farrell and Zhao, adapted from O’Farrell’s bestselling novel.
In the drama categories, contenders for Best Drama include Blue Lights (Season 3), Leonard and Hungry Paul, Trespasses, The Walsh Sisters, Wednesday (Season 2) and The Young Offenders (Season 4), reflecting a strong year for both returning favourites and new productions.
IFTA highlighted a record number of women nominated in directing categories this year. Among them are Rachel Carey (Obituary), Megan K Fox (Video Nasty), Oonagh Kearney (The Au Pair), Mia Mullarkey (Hidden Assets), Aisling Walsh (Showkids), debut director Myrid Carten (A Want in Her), and Lisa Barros D’Sa, who co-directed Saipan with Glenn Leyburn.
Male directing nominees include first-time filmmakers Brendan Canty (Christy) and Edwin Mullane and Adam O’Keeffe (Horseshoe), alongside established names such as Lorcan Finnegan (The Surfer), Ruán Magan (Báite) and Hugh O’Conor (Showkids).
The Academy also noted seven first-time acting nominees, including Daniel Power, Emma Willis and Jamie Forde (Christy), Cal O’Driscoll (Video Nasty), Louisa Harland (The Walsh Sisters), Eleanor O’Brien (Báite) and Katherine Devlin (Blue Lights).
This year’s Lifetime Achievement Award will be presented to actor Ciarán Hinds, in recognition of his outstanding contribution to film and television.
Speaking on RTÉ Radio 1’s Morning Ireland, IFTA CEO Áine Moriarty said it is “a fantastic time for the Irish screen industry”, praising both the strength of domestic production and the international success of Irish talent such as Jessie Buckley, Paul Mescal and Cillian Murphy. She added that it would be “wonderful” to welcome many of the nominees back to Ireland next month to celebrate their achievements.
Further details about the ceremony, including guest presenters, Rising Star nominees and international attendees, will be announced in the coming weeks. The Irish Academy Awards are funded by Screen Ireland and Coimisiún na Meán.
