Four Irish Films Selected for Edinburgh with comedy/thriller THE GUARD Set to Open Festival
Irish comedy thriller THE GUARD, is set to have its UK premiere kicking off the Edinburgh Film Festival next month with three other Irish titles MY BROTHERS, CHARLIE CASANOVA and OFF THE BEATEN TRACK also included in the line-up.
Written and directed by John Michael McDonagh, THE GUARD has previously been selected for the renowned Sundance and Berlin film festivals earlier this year with Screen Daily commenting that "The Guard will win over audiences with its zinger lines from McDonagh's script and deft casting in all the roles" while Hollywood Reporter describes it as "Scabrous, profane,violent, verbally adroit and very often hilarious, this twisted and exceptionally accomplished variation on the buddy-cop format is capped by a protean performance by Brendan Gleeson".
THE GUARD boasts an impressive 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 (KickAss, Sherlock Holmes). The film is set on the west coast of Ireland where Sergeant Gerry Boyle (Gleeson) is a small-town Irish 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 drug-smuggling ring that has brought FBI agent
Wendell Everett (Cheadle) to his door.
Paul Fraser's feature directorial debut MY BROTHERS was written by William Collins. When 17-year-old Noel accidentally breaks his dying father's most prized possession-a cheap wristwatch-he and his two younger brothers "borrow" the boss' bread van for a clandestine quest to replace it. But what begins as a quick road trip soon turns into an emotional odyssey for the boys. The film was produced by Rob Walpole and Rebecca O'Flanagan, who was Ireland's ‘Producer on the Move' at the recent Cannes Film Festival.
CHARLIE CASANOVA, which was written, produced and directed by Terry McMahon, will have its UK premiere at the festival. The film details the spiraling events of a ruling class sociopath who knocks down a working class girl in a hit-and-run and uses a deck of playing cards to determine his fate. It had its world premiere last month at the SXSW Film Festival, where it was the first non-American film selected for the Narrative Feature Competition in six years and the first Irish film ever selected for the competition.
Directed by Dieter Auner, OFF THE BEATEN TRACK, is a beautifully observed, powerful but gentle documentary about the changing world of shepherds in Transylvania. The film follows Albin, a teenage shepherd from a remote village in Northern Transylvania, over the course of a year as he makes his way through the ever-changing environment where traditions and the slow pace of the shepherds' routine are gradually being replaced by modern values.
Past premieres at the Edinburgh International Film Festival include Dr. Zhivago, Taxi Driver, Blade Runner, Back to the Future, E.T, Pulp Fiction, The Motorcycle Diaries, and The Hurt Locker.
The 65th Edinburgh International Film Festival takes place from the 15th-26th June.
About THE GUARD
THE GUARD is an Irish/UK co-production, backed by Bord Scannan na hEireann/the Irish Film Board and Section 481 as well as 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. Irish audiences will get an opportunity to see THE GUARD in cinemas when it goes on nationwide release on
July 8th 2011.
About MY BROTHERS
MY BROTHERS had its world premiere at the 2010 Galway Film Fleadh where it was selected to open the festival and has since gone on to screen at the prestigious Tribeca Film Festival as well as receiving the Critics Choice Award at the Capital Irish Film Festival in Washington. The film was co-financed BSÉ/IFB, RTÉ and Windmill Lane.
About CHARLIE CASANOVA
Receiving completion funding from BSÉ/IFB, CHARLIE CASANOVA was also the only Irish film selected for The ECU European Independent Film Festival in Paris this year where Emmett Scanlan won the Best Actor Award for his performance as Charlie and, as well as The Indie Spirit Film Festival in Colorado, Charlie Casanova was also screened at the Off Camera Plus Krakow International Film Festival.
About OFF THE BEATEN TRACK
The documentary film was produced by Suin Ni Raghallaigh, Dieter Auner, and Cristian Mungiu for Ikandi Productions with support from BSÉ/IFB and Mobra Films. It has been previously selected to screen at festivals in Rotterdam, Transylvania and Belfast.
About Edinburgh International Film Festival
EIFF has developed into a crucial business hub for the UK and international film industry, a key attraction for Edinburgh, and one of the world's best loved audience festivals. With an emphasis upon new talent, discovery and innovation, EIFF's vibrant programme of films and events combines a commitment to audience edification and pleasure with a strong ongoing stake in the development of the UK and Scottish film industries.