Traders, Cherry Tree, The Hallow and The Visit to Screen at Fantasia International Film Festival
Four Irish productions are amongst the lineup of the nineteenth Fantasia International Film Festival, which takes place in Montreal in July. Traders, The Hallow, Cherry Tree and The Visit will join a selection of international films at the festival.
Traders is the feature debut of directors Peter Murphy and Rachel Moriarty, and stars Killian Scott (Get Up & Go, Calvary) and John Bradley (Game of Thrones, Anna Karenina) follows newly redundant Harry Fox, who sees himself as the unwilling member of a new underclass of the jobless and the pointless. He had looked forward to a rising salary curve, now he sees a slow meaningless grind to a state pension. Then Harry’s former colleague Vernon Stynes steps up with a new business proposition. Two people convert all their assets to cash, arrange to meet, dig one grave and fight to the death. Winner buries the loser and instantly doubles his value. Can he persuade Harry to become a Trader?
Cherry Tree was directed by David Keating and stars Anna Walton, Naomi Battrick and Sam Hazeldine. The film follows Faith, who is in a bad place. Her Dad, Sean, is ill, she fears he is dying and is haunted by the prospect of a life alone. Faith confides in her teacher and sports coach Sissy – who tells her she can cure Sean but there’s a price Faith must pay.
The Hallow was directed by Corin Hardy and filmed in Co. Galway. The film follows a London-based conservationist (Joseph Mawle, Ripper Street) who moves to Ireland with his wife (Bojana Novakovic, Edge of Darkness) and baby, to survey an area of ancient forest believed by the superstitious locals to be hallowed ground. He unwittingly disturbs a horde of terrifying beings and must fight to protect his family. The film also stars Michael McElhatton (Game of Thrones) and Michael Smiley (Glassland). The film was produced by Occupant Entertainment and Fantastic Films.
The Visit is a documentary from the team behind His & Hers, and poses the question, what would happen if we were to be visited by a being from another world? The film presents this hypothetical scenario to experts from around the world who have already dedicated their lives to preparing for such an event. The Visit was directed by Michael Madsen and was produced by Venom Films, Magic Hour Films, Mouka Filmi, Nikolaus Geyrhalter Film and Indie Film.
Traders, Cherry Tree, The Hallow and The Visit are all funded by Bord Scannán na hÉireann/the Irish Film Board. The Fantasia International Film Festival takes place from July 14th to August 4th 2015.