Family celebrates special Oscar win
LATE NIGHT FOR BANEHAMS IN BALBRIGGAN
Joe Letteri, Stephen Rosenbaum, Richard Baneham and Andrew R Jones, celebrating victory in the Best Visual Effects category at the Oscars for their work on Avatar. (Right) Tom Baneham.
Wednesday March 10 2010
ONE home in Balbriggan had a little more stake in this year's Oscars ceremony than anyone else in the town as they waited with bated breath to see if their cousin would be crowned in Oscar glory.
A little bit of Hollywood glamour touched the Balbriggan family in the early hours of Monday morning as Richard Baneham became the latest in a long line of Irish Oscar heroes, taking home the prized statuette for his work on the billion-dollar blockbuster, Avatar.
Richard is the cousin of Tom Baneham, who is well-known in Balbriggan for his involvement with O'Dwyer's GAA Club.
Normally concerned with putting GAA trophies on the mantelpiece, it was a trophy of an altogether different kind that grabbed Tom's attention as he watched the Academy Awards ceremony from in the comfort of his living room in Balbriggan. The Baneham family had a long wait with the award for best visual effects announced around 4.15am.
According to Tom, there was great excitement as Richard topped his recent success at the BAFTAs with success at the Oscars. ' We were delighted it was his name that was called out,' Richard's proud cousin told the Fingal Independent.
'He is doing very well out there and has been involved in the Lord of the Rings as well. We wouldn't normally be staying up all night to watch the Oscars in this house but this was different,' Tom said.
Tom is close to Richard's father, Michael, and sent his best wishes to the Oscar winner's proud father and Michael's wife, Noeleen.
A family party to welcome the Oscar winner home will soon be in the offing and Tom is hoping that he might even get Richard and that prized little golden statuette to Balbriggan to celebrate the achievement.
Richard's extraordinary achievement has also been recognised by Arts Minister, Martin Cullen TD, who said: 'Richard is one of Ireland's most accomplished animators and winning this much-coveted award is a great personal success and a further recognition of the talent available in the Irish film industry either working at home or abroad.'
- John MANNING
