THE director of the first Irish language feature film to be nominated for an Oscar has said it has put a spotlight on the language.
Colm Bairéad, who directed An Cailin Ciúin (The Quiet Girl), said he hoped the film was "leading to a slight shift in mindset and hopefully one that will be lasting".
The Irish box office hit had been nominated in the international feature film category at this year's Academy Awards.
Based on Booker-prize nominated author Claire Keegan’s novella Foster, the Irish adaption explores how Cait is sent from her family in rural Ireland to stay with relations in Ring, Co Waterford, an Irish-speaking area, in 1981.
Also produced by Cleona Ni Chrualaoi, it has grossed around £883,960 at the box-office in the Republic and the UK becoming the most successful Irish language film ever.
Despite being the first Irish language feature film to be nominated for an Oscar, it lost out to All Quiet on the Western Front at the Academy Awards on Sunday night.
But Mr Bairéad told RTÉ that he believes the film's success has boosted a language he grew up feeling self-conscious about because of its rarity.
"It took me a while to accept that actually to be given another language and to be given our native language was a beautiful thing and a gift really," he said.
"When you have a language that is becoming part of the cultural landscape, that really helps.
"I think it's certainly leading to a slight shift in mindset and hopefully one that will be lasting."
Best International Film nominee Colm Bairéad talks about what it means to be the first Irish language feature film to be nominated at tonight’s #Oscars pic.twitter.com/c7sKdpugU9
— The Hollywood Reporter (@THR) March 12, 2023
