TWO IRISH FILMS SELECTED FOR COMPETITION AT TRIBECA FILM FESTIVAL
Building further on a successful year for Irish cinema, two Bord Scannán na hÉireann (BSE/IFB) supported Irish Films have been chosen to screen in competition at the prestigious Tribeca Film Festival in New York this May.BLIND FLIGHT, directed by John Furse, and FREEZEFRAME, directed by John Simpson, have both been selected in the competitive Best Narrative Feature category, which selects just twelve films from around the world.
BLIND FLIGHT tells the famous story of Brian Keenan and John McCarty in captivity in the Lebanon and it opened to critical acclaim in Ireland and the UK earlier this year. The film was co-financed by BSE/IFB, NIFTC, Scottish Screen, UK Film Council, ZDF/Arte, Screen Scene and Optimum with international sales being handled by Moviehouse Entertainment.
FREEZE FRAME is a dark thriller starring Lee Evans, which will be released by Verve Pictures in the UK and by Eclipse Pictures in Ireland later this year. This film was funded by BSE/IFB and NIFTC with Universal Pictures.
The Tribeca Film Festival was created in 2002 by Jane Rosenthal and Robert De Niro to showcase independent features, documentaries and short films. The festival has grown substantially in the last two years and was attended by over 300,000 cinema goers last year. Previous winners for Best Feature include BLIND SHAFT and RODGER DODGER and last year Jim Sheridan’s Oscar© nominated IN AMERICA also premiered at this festival.
”It’s fantastic to see Irish films get the recognition they deserve on the international stage and Tribeca is an especially impressive platform for both of these films to receive their international premiere”, said Moira Horgan, BSE/IFB Head of Marketing. “We wish the filmmakers involved the best of luck in competition”.
The short film TWO FAT LADIES directed by John Hayes has also been selected in the best Short Film Category. TWO FAT LADIES was produced as part of the BSÉ/IFB funded Short Cuts scheme in association with RTE.