IFTA, The Irish Film and Television Academy has today formally announced that Tom Collins's Kings has been officially selected by an independent IFTA jury as Ireland's submission to the 80th Academy Awards, in the Best Foreign Language Film category.

Kings, which is predominantly in the Irish language, stars Colm Meaney, Donal O'Kelly and Brendan Conroy in the story of a group of emigrant Irishmen in London, drawn back together for the funeral of one of their companions. The$3m (Eu2.2m) feature film was shot in Belfast, London and Dublin in 2006.

This is the first time that a film has been submitted from Ireland for this award category. The submission and jury process is co-ordinated by the Irish Film & Television Academy. The American Academy accepts one non-English language film from each eligible country for consideration under this category and will announce their selection of the five foreign language nominated films on January 22nd.

The independent Irish selection jury comprised of director Neil Jordan, actors Daniel Day Lewis and Fionnula Flanagan, writer/director Terry George, and casting director Ros Hubbard.

Áine Moriarty, ceo of IFTA says 'We are very proud to submit the first Irish language film to the Academy Awards in Los Angeles. Kings is a powerful and moving story that transcends its native language and can communicate universally.'

Writer/director Tom Collins reacted, 'Kings has been a remarkable journey for me over the past four years.To receive this latest accolade is quite overwhelming. I hope people will watch Kings and empathise with the whole experience of emigrants in a foreign land. This is a universal story.'

Kings screens at the Toronto Film Festival Contemporary World Cinema section and is released across Ireland on September 21st.

Kings is a High Point Films & Television presentation, produced by Jackie Larkin (Newgrange Pictures) and co-produced by Michael Casey (Green Park Films) and Tom Collins (De Facto Films production), in association with the Northern Ireland Screen, the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland and TG4, with the participation of the Irish Film Board.

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