GALWAY could be set for a double-whammy of Academy Award glory at the Oscars in Hollywood next month, with locals involved in two separate nominated films.

14 year-old Claregalway schoolboy Evan McGuire featured in the animated film ‘The Secret of Kells’, which is nominated for ‘Best Animated Feature’, while Tim Fleming, an established cinematographer from the Claddagh in Galway City, worked on the subtitled film ‘The Door’, which is nominated for ‘Best Live Action Short Film’.

Evan, a 2nd Year student in St Joseph’s College (‘The Bish’) in the city and the son of Frank and Geraldine McGuire from Claregalway, provided the voice of a central character in the movie, where he featured alongside Irish screen legend Brendan Gleeson.

However, despite voicing the main character in the film, it’s not clear if Evan – who was just 11 when his scenes were recorded – will be walking up the red carpet on March 7 for the 82nd Annual Academy Awards in Hollywood’s Kodak Theatre.

Proud mother Geraldine told the Connacht Tribune: “We haven’t a clue yet what implications the nomination has for Evan. I doubt we’ll be going over. I’d say, even though Evan is the voice of the main character Brendan, it will just be Brendan Gleeson, the writers and producers going over.

“We celebrated last year in Dublin at the premiere [at the Jameson International Film Festival where it won Best Irish Film], so I’m not sure if we’ll have a party or not, but we have had a lot of phone calls of support which is nice. He liked doing [the film], but I don’t think he likes the attention though, he’s at that age!” said Geraldine.
The McGuire family have been inundated with phone calls and text messages from well-wishers, since the nominations were announced on Tuesday.

The animation faces stiff competition in the category from ‘Coraline’, ‘Fantastic Mr. Fox’, ‘Up’and ‘The Princess and the Frog’.

For more, read page 3 of this week's Connacht Tribune.