Bigfoot Lover scoops Offaly short film award

This year's recipient of the FilmOffaly short film award is Megan Murphy who has received the long-running bursary for her script Bigfoot Lover.

The award is worth €12,000 towards production of the short film, which is due to shoot entirely on location in Offaly later in the year.

Megan is a graduate in Film & TV Production from the National Film School, and has several years’ experience in various production roles. Bigfoot Lover is her first drama short as a writer and director.

The film centres around a heartbroken and lonely woman struggling to escape the self-destructive patterns of her love life, until she meets Bigfoot in the woods. The film is a unique and charmingly absurd take on modern relationships.

''We are extremely grateful to FilmOffaly for its backing and belief in Bigfoot Lover. This film is a bit eccentric but with a lot of heart. If we were all to reflect on our dating past, you would see some Bigfoots lurking there,'' said Murphy.

The film is due to be produced by Conor McCormick of Carousel Pictures. McCormick is no stranger to the FilmOffaly award, having been a previous recipient of the bursary himself.

READ NEXT: Offaly JigJam front man joins Grammy Award winner on stage in Chicago

The award was one of the first of its kind in Ireland and has been running since 2008. The first recipient of the award was Domhnall Gleeson for his film Noreen, and since then the bursary has been granted to emerging filmmakers with original scripts.

The main condition of the award is that the film must be 100% shot in Offaly, giving the county an opportunity to showcase its many filming locations, together with the benefits of using local crew and businesses.