Irish Co-Production ’11 Minutes’ to Screen in Competition at the 72nd Venice Film Festival
Irish-Polish co-production 11 Minutes has been announced to screen in competition at this year’s prestigious Venice Film Festival.
Directed by Jerzy Skolimowski, the film follows the same 11 minutes in the lives of several different characters representing aspects of modern society: a sexy actress, a Hollywood film director, an old painter, a hot-dog vendor, a promiscuous courier, a young percussionist, a jealous husband, a boy who doesn’t know his father, a poor woman giving birth, a weary ambulance crew, and a dog. Around them a vibrant city teems with juxtapositions. Some characters are shown just as they are about to make life-changing decisions, others are idly passing time, caught in the midst of their day"to"day routines. What they all have in common is an enigmatic sighting of the elusive dark spot, seen in the sky earlier that day, and the tragic chain of events that will seal their fate.
11 Minutes stars Good Vibrations and Game of Thrones actor Richard Dormer in addition to Polish actors including Wojciech Mecwaldowski and Paulina Chapko.
This is the latest in a long line of Irish films screening in Venice. Skolimowski’s previous film Essential Killing picked up the Special Jury Prize, the CinemAvvenire Award and the Best Actor awards at the festival in 2010. Two Irish films have won the festival’s top prize, the Golden Lion, in previous years – The Magdalene Sisters in 2002 and Michael Collins in 1996. International films to have won the prize include Brokeback Mountain, The Wrestler and Vera Drake.
11 Minutes was filmed in Dublin and was produced by Andrew Lowe and Ed Guiney of Element Pictures and Ewa Piaskowska of Skopia Film. It was financed by Bord Scannán na hÉireann/the Irish Film Board, Eurimages, the Polish Film Institute, TVP, HBO Poland, Orange and Skopia Film.
The 72nd Venice Film Festival takes place from September 2nd to 12th.