Spotlight on Irish Films As Three Projects Get Set for A-List Berlinale Festival
The Irish features THE GUARD and THE PIPE along with the short film CROSSING SALWEEN will all screen this week at the prestigious Berlin Film Festival which kicks off this Wednesday 10th February.The Berlinale is one of the most important dates on the international film industry's calendar and enjoys one of the largest film festival audiences in the world.
Hot from its success at the Sundance Film Festival, THE GUARD directed by John Michael McDonagh has been selected for the Panorama Special. Set on the west coast of Ireland the thriller-comedy set on the west coast of Ireland has a formidable cast, including Brendan Gleeson (In Bruges, Harry Potter, The General), Don Cheadle (Iron Man 2, Crash, Hotel Rwanda), Fionnuala Flanagan (Lost, Transamerica), Liam Cunningham (Hunger, The Wind that Shakes the Barley) and Mark Strong (Kick Ass, Sherlock Holmes).
The award-winning documentary THE PIPE directed by Risteard Ó Domhnaill tells the compelling story of Rossport's struggle against the economic might of Shell and the tragic divisions that have split a once-peaceful and close knit community.
The passionate, brave and beautifully shot documentary, produced by Rachel Lysaght for Scannáin Inbhear with funding from the IFB and TG4, is no stranger to festival success having already received an Honourable Mention from the IDFA Green Screen Jury and official selections for the London, Toronto and Palm Springs International film festivals. It will screen in the Culinary Program of the Berlinale.
Meanwhile Brian O'Malley's beautiful short film CROSSING SALWEEN has been selected for the Generation 14Plus and will compete against 13 other short films from around the globe.
Shot entirely in Thailand the film follows a young girl making the journey through the Burmese jungle to the Salween River and the safety of Thailand beyond. The short received a Special Mention in the Best Irish Short Film category when it premiered at the Corona Cork Film Festival in November. It was produced by Gary Moore for Red Rage Films.
The Berlin International Film Festival will take place 10th - 20th February.
ABOUT THE GUARD
The film is an Irish/UK co-production, backed by the IFB and international financiers. It's produced by Chris Clark and Flora Fernandez Marengo for Reprisal Films and Ed Guiney (Garage) and Andrew Lowe (The Wind that Shakes the Barley) for Element Pictures.
Sony Picture Classics has just closed a major deal for US and Latin American rights to the film which means it has now sold to almost every territory in the world.
The Guard is a thriller-comedy set on the west coast of Ireland where Sergeant Gerry Boyle (Gleeson) is a small-town cop with a confrontational personality, a subversive sense of humour, a dying mother, a fondness for prostitutes, and absolutely no interest whatsoever in the international cocaine-smuggling ring that has brought FBI agent Wendell Everett (Cheadle) to his door.
The Guard directed by John Michael McDonagh and starring Brendan Gleeson has garnered critical acclaim at the Sundance Film Festival. According to Variety "... it's Gleeson who rightly owns the screen as a beer-swilling, crotch-grabbing, Derringer-firing crusader with one hell of a filthy mouth to go along with his heart of gold." and the director John Michael McDonagh's "filmmaking crackles with energy".
Element Distribution will release THE GUARD in Irish cinemas later this year.
ABOUT THE PIPE
The Pipe is a compelling documentary of Rossport's struggle against the economic might of Shell and the tragic divisions that have split a once-peaceful and close knit community. Risteard Ó Domhnaill's passionate, brave and beautifully shot documentary, produced by Rachel Lysaght (Underground Films), for Scannáin Inbhear, has already picked up the Best Documentary Award at the Galway Film Fleadh 2010, as well as being highly acclaimed by audiences at the Toronto International Film Festival and receiving an Honourable Mention from the Green Screen Jury at the International Documentary Festival Amsterdam last year.
Rossport is a tiny village of farmers and fishermen in north Mayo that has, for years, been resisting Shell's attempts to install a high-pressure pipeline to transport unprocessed gas from the massive new gas fields off the coast to an inland refinery. The government gave Shell compulsory acquisition powers over farmland in Rossport, and in June 2005, five local men were imprisoned for 94 days for defying a court order allowing Shell workers to enter their land. This set in train a cycle of protests, heavy-handed policing and a legal conflict that continues to this day. Years of protest have left bitter divisions in the community between moderate campaigners, those perceived to have 'sold out', and hardliners whose tactics have included direct action and a hunger strike.
For four years, Ó Domhnaill's intimate access allowed him follow three members of the community; Willie Corduff, one of the Rossport Five and his attempts to defend the farm his father reclaimed from the bog; Monica Müller who controversially refused to join protests but whose court action has delivered a major blow to Shell; and Pat 'The Chief' O'Donnell, a local fisherman who is repeatedly arrested for daringly sailing his small fishing boat into the path of the gigantic pipe-layer The Solitaire. The film captures the anxiety, anger and disillusionment of years of conflict as well as their passionate connection to the local environment, and the spirit, humour and heroism that sustains them.
The Pipe is produced by Scannáin Inbhear with funding from Bord Scannán na hEireann / the Irish Film Board and TG4.
Comments from the critics include:
"first rate" Variety
"O Domhnaill's engrossing and proactive documentary couldn't be more pertinent" - Screen International
ABOUT CROSSING SALWEEN
Crossing Salween was written and directed by Brian O'Malley and was based on a short story by Gary Moore. The short received a Special Mention in the Best Irish Short Film category at the Cork Film Festival where it premiered last year for its narrative ambition and flair. The beautiful film which was short entirely in Thailand tells the tale of a young girl making the journey through the Burmese jungle to the Salween River and the safety of Thailand beyond.
The film was produced by Gary Moore for Red Rage Films as part of the Signatures short film scheme which is funded by the Irish Film Board and focuses on the making of live-action, fiction films that aim to encourage strong, original storytelling, visual flair and production values appropriate to the big screen.