VIP guests celebrate Irish Oscar wins at Los Angeles viewing party

Film director Jim Sheridan, actors Caroline Morahan, Kellie Blaise and Kevin Ryan, former EastEnders star Michelle Collins (Cindy Beale), Mayor of Limerick Francis Foley and Screen Ireland chair Susan Bergin were among the attendees at a function organised in the Irish Consulate

They were heard cheering and celebrating as An Irish Goodbye scooped up the Best Live Action Short Film gong and Dubliner Richard Baneham won his second Best Visual Effects Oscar for Avatar: The Way of Water, having previously won for the original Avatar film back in 2009.

However, the crowd let out groans of disappointment at our twelve losses, including The Banshees of Inisherin’s nine nominations and Paul Mescal’s Best Actor snub for Aftersun.

The event features a Pop Up Gaeltacht while Arts Minister Catherine Martin also gave a speech to kick off the Academy Awards.

“The scale of the collective achievement of our nominees is something we have never seen before,” she pointed out.

“It gives us a profile in this year’s ceremony that is beyond anything we could have previously have imagined.

“We have all collectively witnessed this at first hand over the past few days. And we have all seen the value of this for our industry, our tourism, our language and how it has been a boost for the whole country.”

The cast and crew of An Irish Goodbye, which was shot in counties Down, Derry and Antrim, partied after their historic win at the Vanity Fair function which was a double celebration as it was James’ 31st birthday – an occasion which was marked by the star-studded audience in the Dolby Theatre singing ‘Happy Birthday’ to him.

“This is the most bizarre and exciting and fulfilling and bizarre again twice experience of all our lives,” co-director Tom Berkeley told sundayworld.com. “I’m sure that goes for the cast and the crew, because we won an Oscar.”

His co-director Ross White was equally chuffed.

“We are just so thrilled to be here for a start, and then to be up on that stage collecting these Oscars and to have James with us and Seamus with us, this has been a such a labour of love.

“In the best way we have all thrown our everything into this project, and to have the guys with us in LA celebrating is just so magical and to have that on James’ birthday is even more special. He deserves everything.

“And the fact that we could have that little moment singing with him on stage, I will never forget that.”