FilmOffaly Short Film Award 2026 – Winner Announced

FilmOffaly is pleased to announce the recipient of this year’s FilmOffaly Short Film Award.

Dara Fennema has been awarded the long-running bursary for her script “How To Bury An Imaginary Friend”. The award is worth 12,000 Euro towards production of the short film, which is due to shoot entirely on location in Offaly later in the year.

This surreal family drama centres around a chaotic young woman who accidentally reverses over her niece’s imaginary friend. She and her “perfect” older sister embark on an absurd road trip to bury the evidence, while dealing with their own complicated relationship.

“This project means a lot to me so it’s a real privilege to get to share it with everyone.” said Dara.

The film is due to be directed by Offaly-born actor and director Maura Foley, who said “Dara has written something so funny, heartfelt and original, and I’m really excited to work with the team to bring this uniquely strange and imaginative story to the screen.” Maura is no stranger to the FilmOffaly award, having acted in Whale and winning the award herself for her debut film Missing.

The film will be produced by Joanna Kelly of One Productions.

At FilmOffaly, we’re excited to be working with the team on this film and are looking forward to seeing what they accomplish. We received a great deal of high-quality entries this year, and want to thank everyone who entered.

The award was one of the first of its kind in Ireland and has been running since 2008. The first recipient of the award was Domhnall Gleeson for his film Noreen, and since then the bursary has been granted to emerging filmmakers with original scripts. The main condition of the award is that the film must be 100% shot in Offaly, giving the county an opportunity to showcase its many filming locations, together with the benefits of using local crew and businesses.

Watch this space for more info on the project.