"The Lost Children of Tuam" wins prestigious award at Galway Film Fleadh

The powerful drama, written by Rebecca Lenkiewicz and produced by Liam Neeson, Jules Daly, Chelsea Morgan Hoffmann, Andrew Lowe, Ed Guiney and Martina Niland, took home the festival’s top honor as this year’s event drew to a close on Sunday.

Meanwhile, the coveted Audience Award went to Learning to Breathe Underwater, directed by Rebekah Fortune.

The coming-of-age drama, which was filmed entirely in Galway, received the highest audience score of the 2026 festival.

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Catherine Coreless and her husband, Aidan.

The Galway Film Fleadh said this year’s edition attracted record attendances across both the festival and the Galway Film Fair, welcoming thousands of film fans, filmmakers and industry professionals from Ireland and abroad.

Festival Director Miriam Allen said: "The response to this year’s Galway Film Fleadh has been extraordinary.

"We experienced record attendances across both the festival and the Galway Film Fair, with audiences embracing Irish and international cinema in remarkable numbers."

She added: "The caliber of filmmaking on display this year has been exceptional, and we’d like to congratulate all of our award winners and everyone who shared their work with audiences in Galway."

Among the other major winners was "You’ll Never Believe Who’s Dead", which claimed the Element Pictures Award for Best Irish First Feature.

The Best Irish Feature Documentary prize was shared by Try and The S.U, while Hollow Trees won Best Independent Irish Film.

The Galway Film Fair also honored several projects in development, while awards were presented across a range of short-film categories, celebrating emerging Irish and international filmmaking talent.

"The Lost Children Of Tuam" tells the story of how Catherine Corless’s research led to the discovery of children’s remains in a disused sewage tank at the former home, as first disclosed in the Irish Mail on Sunday in May 2014.

The film has been seven years in the making after Hollywood star Liam Neeson bought the rights back in 2018.

It was shot on location in Ireland this autumn, with the filmmakers on site in Tuam between September and November.

* This article was originally published on Extra.ie.