Irish Documentaries Gain Recognition in North America
Irish director Cathal Black's documentary LEARNING GRAVITY (aka THE UNDERTAKING) has been invited to screen at Michael Moore's Traverse City Film Festival. Meanwhile the critically acclaimed Irish documentaries SEAVIEW directed by Nicky Gogan and Paul Rowe and SAVIOURS directed by Ross Whitaker and Liam Nolan have secured US distribution deals.
In its 5th year the festival was founded by Oscar-winning filmmaker Michael Moore with "the crazy idea of making Traverse City Michigan the home to a major film festival that would bring the best of independent world cinema to northern Michigan". This year the festival is held from July 27th - August 2nd.
"I am obviously delighted that Michael Moore thinks so highly of it that he's to include it in his festival. It also brings the film close to the home of where it was filmed" said director Cathal Black.
The festival said of the film, "visionary director Cathal Black perfectly matches Lynch's personal stories and poetry from "The Undertaking" with beautiful, eerie and often surreal imagery."
Filmed in the West of Ireland and Michigan, LEARNING GRAVITY explores the life and work of Irish-American poet and undertaker Thomas Lynch. The feature documentary traces the contrasts between Lynch's worlds - the living and the dead, Michigan and West Clare, literature and undertaking. Produced by Aisling Ahmed and James Mitchell for Little Bird, it was financed by Bord Scannán na hÉireann/Irish Film Board (IFB), the Broadcasting Commission Of Ireland (BCI), The Arts Council/An Chomhairle Ealaíon, BBC Storyville and RTÉ.
The Irish documentary SEAVIEW will be released on DVD this month in North America by independent distributor Indiepix. The release of the film will be marked by two theatrical screening events around the film in the Barbès in Brooklyn, New York and in the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles are having a screening at the museum on August, where there will be a special Q&A presentation with the director. SAVIOURS will also be released on DVD in North America later this year.