Produced by Quintin Ahern, Eamonn Murphy’s “A Better You” wins at the 38th Torino Film Festival.

“A Better You” has won the Best Short Film and the Premio RAI Cinema Channel Award at the 38th Torino Film Festival. The film is a sci-fi fantasy set in a dystopian neo-steampunk world and tells the story of Douglas, a shy introvert, looking for love in a world full of robots. “A Better You” was funded through Screen Ireland’s Focus Shorts Scheme, written and directed by Eamonn Murphy and produced by Quintin Ahern at Army of Id.

Trailer Link: https://vimeo.com/371154010

Judge Daniele De Cicco, responsible for the Torino 38 Shorts competition states, “We selected A Better You for its brilliant representation of a very personal yet collective feeling: could our digital twin be a better version of us? In the movie, the answer to this question involves love, and kindness, and shyness, with a very delicate touch: production design, costumes, photography, and the direction of the actors, very effectively reflect the emotions of the characters.”

Meanwhile judges for the Premio RAI Cinema Channel Award described the project as, “A completely original cinematographic work, which uses irony to delve into the insecurity and shyness of the human soul in relation to others. At times dystopian and anachronistic, it reflects on the excessive use of social networks, always guided by an excellent directorial hand and a masterly performance.”

Producer Quintin Ahern writes, “To pick up awards around the world really exemplifies the talent that prevails in Ireland. Winning awards at Torino this year is a testament to the cast and crew’s unshakable dedication to the project. It’s important now more than ever that we support and foster the creative talent available to us.”

Writer/Director Eamonn Murphy writes, “We’re thrilled to win at the 38th Torino Film Festival. It’s the second largest festival in Italy, right behind the Venice Film Festival. Winning awards like this really solidifies the quality of the cast and crew’s hard work on the project. It also shows the rest of Europe that Irish films can compete on that level. “A Better You” deals with the feeling of inadequacy in the age of social media. We tried to explore it in a fun and lighthearted way and it’s really nice to see the film resonate with audiences around the world.”

A Better You held its international premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival in March this year and picked up a Best Narrative Short Nomination. Unfortunately, the public screenings had to be cancelled due to the Corona Virus.

Murphy continues, “Having our film on the festival circuit during a global pandemic can be quite challenging so it’s nice to know that our film is finding an audience. We’re celebrating every little success we can until we can all get back to the cinemas together.”

“A Better You” has gone from strength to strength with screenings and nominations at Oscar affiliated festivals like the LA Shorts Fest and Flicker’s Rhode Island International Film Festival. Most recently “A Better You” picked up a Special Jury Award at the Sapporo International Short Film Festival Japan along with the Best Actor Award for Seán T. Ó’Meallaigh (Douglas) and the Best Production Design Award for Tara O’Reilly.

“A Better You” stars Seán T. Ó’Meallaigh (Douglas) and Hannah Mamalis (Olga) in the lead roles and features notable cinematography from Eleanor Bowman and an other-worldly production design from Tara O’Reilly.