{"id":608327,"date":"2026-08-29T14:06:17","date_gmt":"2026-08-29T14:06:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/608327\/"},"modified":"2026-08-29T14:06:17","modified_gmt":"2026-08-29T14:06:17","slug":"oscars-buzz-for-film-starring-donegals-art-parkinson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/608327\/","title":{"rendered":"Oscars buzz for film starring Donegal&#8217;s Art Parkinson"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Oscars excitement has hit Donegal as Art Parkinson&#8217;s Irish-language film is selected to represent Ireland at the upcoming Academy Awards.<\/p>\n<p>The Moville native, 24, has a strong supporting role in Aontas, which has been chosen as Ireland\u2019s submission for the Best International Feature Film category at the 99th Academy Awards.<\/p>\n<p>Parkinson plays rookie garda \u00c9amonn in the acclaimed heist thriller alongside Carrie Crowley, Br\u00edd Brennan, Eva-Jane Gaffney, Se\u00e1n T. \u00d3 Meallaigh and Marcus Lamb.<\/p>\n<p>Lead actress Carrie Crowley&#8217;s mother Nodhlaig was a teacher originally from The Rosses area in Donegal.<\/p>\n<p>Aontas follows in the footsteps of the Oscar-nominated An Cail\u00edn Ci\u00fain and the Oscar-shortlisted Kneecap as Irish-language cinema continues to make an impact internationally.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-647297 in-content-img not-prose w-full\" height=\"582\" width=\"auto\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/oscars-buzz-for-film-starring-donegal-039-s-art-parkinson.png\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"font-serif font-normal text-base leading-6 text-tertiary not-prose\"> Art Parkinson as \u00c9amonn in Aontas. TG4<\/p>\n<p>The film opens with three unlikely thieves, led by a woman on the verge of a breakdown, rob a rural Irish Credit Union.<\/p>\n<p>Opening in the tragic aftermath of the heist-gone-wrong, Aontas unfolds backwards, chapter by chapter to unravel the events that led to this point. What starts as a poorly executed robbery becomes a portrait of a wilful woman trapped in her own past.<\/p>\n<p>It was filmed in March 2024 in Glenarm, County Antrim, and post-production was completed at Yellowmoon Postproduction in Holywood, Co. Down.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-sans font-semibold text-xl md:text-[30px] leading-9 text-primary w-full\">\n        You may also be interested in\n    <\/p>\n<p>            <a href=\"https:\/\/www.donegaldaily.com\/news\/young-busking-champ-donates-prizemoney-to-help-save-rory-gallagher-festival-647350\" class=\"block w-2\/5 shrink-0\" aria-label=\"Young busking champ donates prizemoney to help save Rory Gallagher Festival\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><\/p>\n<p>        <img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/young-busking-champ-donates-prizemoney-to-help-save-rory-gallagher-festival.jpg\" class=\"max-w-full w-full h-full object-contain relative z-10\" width=\"150\" height=\"84\"  alt=\"Young busking champ donates prizemoney to help save Rory Gallagher Festival\" \/><\/p>\n<p>            <\/a><\/p>\n<p>            <a href=\"https:\/\/www.donegaldaily.com\/news\/three-vehicles-detained-during-south-donegal-checkpoints-647345\" class=\"block w-2\/5 shrink-0\" aria-label=\"Three vehicles detained during South Donegal checkpoints\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><\/p>\n<p>        <img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/three-vehicles-detained-during-south-donegal-checkpoints.jpg\" class=\"max-w-full w-full h-full object-contain relative z-10\" width=\"150\" height=\"84\"  alt=\"Three vehicles detained during South Donegal checkpoints\" \/><\/p>\n<p>            <\/a><\/p>\n<p>Parkinson is the son of Movania Parkinson and Finbar McCallion and grew up in Moville. He attended Irish-medium school Col\u00e1iste Chine\u00e1l Eoghain in Buncrana and became an ambassador for Seachtain na Gaeilge in 2017.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-647298 in-content-img not-prose w-full\" height=\"1024\" width=\"auto\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/oscars-buzz-for-film-starring-donegal-039-s-art-parkinson.jpg\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"font-serif font-normal text-base leading-6 text-tertiary not-prose\"> Art Parkinson in a supporting actor role in Aontas<\/p>\n<p>Parkinson became known internationally for playing Rickon Stark in HBO\u2019s Game of Thrones. He later voiced the title character in the BAFTA-winning animated film Kubo and the Two Strings, earning an Annie Award nomination for his performance.<\/p>\n<p>His screen credits also include San Andreas, Dracula Untold, Love, Rosie, Zoo, The Bay and the FX series Say Nothing.<\/p>\n<p>The Inishowen actor is continuing his work in Irish-language productions and has also joined the cast of the second series of the Donegal-set crime drama Cr\u00e1.<\/p>\n<p>Aontas is now in contention with films submitted by countries around the world. Each country may put forward only one film in the category.<\/p>\n<p>The international feature shortlist will be announced on Tuesday, 15th December 2026, before the final five nominees are revealed on Thursday, 21st January 2027.<\/p>\n<p class=\"isSelectedEnd\">Director Damian McCann wrote Aontas with Sarah Gordon. \u00d3rfhlaith N\u00ed Chearnaigh and Christopher Myers produced it for P\u00faca Pictures, with funding from TG4, BBC Gaeilge and Northern Ireland Screen\u2019s Irish Language Broadcast Fund, along with support from Yellowmoon.<\/p>\n<p>The film premiered at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival and has since screened at 40 festivals around the world, collecting ten international awards. It also received six Irish Film and Television Academy Award nominations.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tg4.ie\/ga\/player\/catagoir\/dramaiocht\/seinn\/?pid=6390785755112&amp;title=Aontas&amp;series=Aontas&amp;genre=Drama\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/r.email.brevo.mediahq.com\/tr\/cl\/4RsyTe2ha6cVBmax4D8wO8UVCxmrU8UgOQ36t1AAtOOmG_FDikPpRIJDSEIeZVl3YqnKXZWywZEG0-e20z4KIOr_RjbWJxTX7QHDvZAMJwe4oPL2R6vXB92NU-kotYNMkva4HUyFViPVPsP0dk92Fpc9-xJdDAS1qysnIYS56kJ2qrH5EG9KJjgwyhfpXktJp8M8FPYawKqCDFzRVl4nC9qS6Qbekb85zc2VBDXhw7PIPzRWkX0BG03AqzXqN1KsDh2R4zw1GK0kBo5moVm6nFw&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1788073979902000&amp;usg=AOvVaw3kzdeEPxTXVD0jmhyzqV-3\">Click here to stream Aontas free on TG4\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Oscars excitement has hit Donegal as Art Parkinson&#8217;s Irish-language film is selected to represent Ireland at the upcoming&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":608328,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[93,61,60],"class_list":["post-608327","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/608327","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=608327"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/608327\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/608328"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=608327"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=608327"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=608327"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}