School Life (In Loco Parentis) has won a Special Jury Prize in the Golden Gate Awards at SFFILM, one of the biggest film festivals in the US, the San Francisco Film Festival!
In the citation, the jury noted: “The jury would like to give a special jury prize to a movie that take us into an eccentric and idyllic world with intuitive grace and a richly empathetic vision.”
The San Francisco Film Festival, now in its 60th year, described the film as presenting “a charming and idealistic picture of what education can be when the needs of the students come first”.
This is the second award the film has received since embarking on the International film festival circuit earlier this year.
Last month, School Life director, Neasa Ní Chianáin walked away with the Jury Prize for the Best international Documentary at Docville International Documentary Film Festival in Leuven in Belgium.
During April, School Life will be screened at the Vision Du Reel documentary film festival in Nyon, Switzerland as well as some of the leading film festivals in US cities, including Dallas, Texas; Durham, North Carolina; Phoenix, Arizona and Minneapolis /St Paul, Minnesota.
Meanwhile, both Neasa & David will be travelling to Toronto at the end of the month for Hotdocs, North America’s largest documentary film festival, where School Life is having its Canadian premiere.
And it doesn’t stop there. A slate of further international festivals are currently being penciled in for late May /June but more about that later!