The Irish Film & Television Awards (IFTAs) were first awarded in 2003. Annually honouring and celebrating Ireland's notably talented film and television community, the ceremony is considered to be Ireland's most prestigious Awards event, and can be viewed as the Irish equivalent to the American Oscars.

In 2006 the Irish Film and Television Academy advertised membership openings in Academy to all professionals in the fields of Irish Television and Film. Its stated aim was "the stimulation of original and creative production work, and the encouragement of excellence through recognition, education and leadership in film and television." [1] The proposed ways to enforce this ideology were:

Some of the Academy's programme of events include:

The 1st Annual Irish Film & Television Awards (IFTA) took place in Dublin during November 2003 and having been running until 2012 when they took place in the Convention Centre in Dublin.

The Awards, presented by the Irish Film & Television Academy, are a platform to honour and celebrate outstanding Irish creativity, talent and achievement; to encourage a high standard of arts and technique in work produced.

The Irish film industry has grown somewhat in recent years thanks partly to the promotion of the sector by Bord Scannán na hÉireann (Irish Film Board) and the introduction of heavy tax breaks. According to the Irish Audiovisual Content Production Sector Review carried out by the Irish Film Board and PricewaterhouseCoopers in 2008 this sector, has gone from 1,000 people employed six or seven years ago, to well over 6,000 people in that sector now and is valued at over €557.3 million and represents 0.3% of GDP.

According to an article in Variety magazine spotlighting Irish cinema, a decade ago Ireland had only two filmmakers anyone had heard of: Neil Jordan and Jim Sheridan. Now though in 2010, Ireland can boast more than a dozen directors and writers with significant and growing international reputations. Ireland is now achieving critical mass of filmmaking talent to match the kind of influence, disproportionate to its small size, that it has always enjoyed in the fields of literature and theatre. Following in the footsteps of Sheridan and Jordan comes a generation that includes such directors as Lenny Abrahamson, Conor McPherson, John Crowley, Martin McDonagh, John Carney, Kirsten Sheridan, Lance Daly, Paddy Breathnach and Damien O'Donnell and writers such as Mark O'Rowe, Enda Walsh and Mark O'Halloran.

Armand Anthony Assante, Jr. (born October 4, 1949) is an American actor.

Assante was born in New York City and raised in Cornwall, New York, the son of Katherine (née Healy), a music teacher and poet, and Armand Anthony Assante, Sr., a painter and artist. His father was Italian and his mother was Irish, and was raised in a devoutly Roman Catholic family. Assante was married to Karen McArn from 1982 to 1994, and has two daughters, Anya and Alessandra.

During the 1970s, Assante was a regular on two NBC soap operas, How to Survive a Marriage as Johnny McGee and The Doctors as Dr. Mike Powers. His first film was The Lords of Flatbush (1974), although the title credits misspelled his last name as Assanti. A role that brought him greater attention came in 1980's Private Benjamin as a handsome Frenchman who becomes the love interest of a U.S. soldier played by Goldie Hawn.

Assante's somewhat sinister look has made him a popular choice for tough-guy heroes, as in his starring role as private eye Mike Hammer in the film I, the Jury (1982) or as Mafia gangsters like that of Michael Moretti in Sidney Sheldon's Rage of Angels. He portrayed the notorious Bugsy Siegel in a comedy, Neil Simon's The Marrying Man (1991), another mobster in Hoffa (1992) starring Jack Nicholson, and crime kingpin John Gotti in the 1996 made-for-television biopic Gotti, for which he won his Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie.

Fionnghuala Manon Flanagan (born 10 December 1941) is an Irish actress who has worked extensively in theatre, film and television.

Flanagan was born and reared in Dublin, the daughter of Rosanna (née McGuirk) and Terence Niall Flanagan. She grew up speaking both Irish and English fluently. Although her parents were not native Irish speakers, they wanted Flanagan and her four siblings to learn their indigenous language. Flanagan was educated in Switzerland and England. She trained at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin and travelled throughout Europe before settling in Los Angeles in 1968.

Flanagan came to prominence in Ireland in 1965 as a result of her role as Máire in the Telefís Éireann production of the Irish Language play, An Triail. For her "outstanding performance" in the part, she won a Jacob's Award at the annual presentation ceremony in Dublin. With her portrayal of Gerty McDowell in the 1967 film version of Ulysses, Flanagan established herself as one of the foremost interpreters of James Joyce. She made her 1968 Broadway debut in Brian Friel's Lovers, then appeared in The Incomparable Max (1971) and such Joycean theatrical projects as Ulysses in Nighttown (as Molly Bloom) and James Joyce's Women (1977). It was subsequently filmed in 1983, with Flanagan both producing and playing all six main female roles (Joyce's wife, Nora Barnacle, as well as fictional characters Molly Bloom, Gerty McDowell, etc.). A familiar presence in American television, has appeared in several made-for-TV movies, among them The Legend of Lizzie Borden (1975) starring Elizabeth Montgomery, Mary White (1977), The Ewok Adventure (1984) and A Winner Never Quits (1986). She won an Emmy for her work as Clothilde in the 1976 network miniseries Rich Man, Poor Man.

Colin James Farrell (born 31 May 1976) is an Irish actor, who has appeared in such films as Tigerland, Miami Vice, Minority Report, Phone Booth, The Recruit, Alexander and S.W.A.T.. In 2008 he received a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for his role in In Bruges.

Farrell was born in Dublin, the son of Rita (née Monaghan), a housewife, and Eamon Farrell, a footballer who played for Shamrock Rovers F.C. and owned a company importing and exporting canned goods in Dublin City. He was raised as a Roman Catholic. His uncle Tommy Farrell also played for Rovers. Farrell has two sisters, Claudine (who is his personal assistant) and Catherine, and a brother, Eamon Jr. When he was ten, the Farrells moved to Castleknock, a Dublin suburb. Farrell was educated at St. Brigid's National School Castleknock followed by Castleknock College and Gormanston College. Farrell unsuccessfully auditioned for the Irish group Boyzone when he was still unknown. Farrell attended The Gaiety School of Acting, but dropped out and was cast in the part of Danny Byrne on Ballykissangel, a BBC television drama. Farrell appeared on the show seven times from 1998 to 1999. He was inspired to try acting after being brought to tears while watching E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.