Baltimore to receive World Premiere at 50th Telluride Film Festival
Posted: 31st August 2023
Irish film Baltimore will receive its World Premiere at the 50th Telluride Film Festival, which began today. Supported by Fís Éireann/Screen Ireland and directed by acclaimed filmmakers Joe Lawlor and Christine Molloy, the film will screen at the prestigious North American festival known for its secretive programming and its launching critically acclaimed projects from well-known filmmakers.
Baltimore is a psychological thriller based around an actual armed raid in 1974, in which 19 masterpieces were stolen from one of Ireland’s great houses – Russborough in Co. Wicklow. The raid was masterminded by English Heiress Rose Dugdale in her efforts to support the IRA armed struggle at that time. The film charts her journey from privileged aristocrat to committed rebel. The film plays out over the course of the days following the raid when Rose is in hiding in a remote cottage with her two accomplices.
The film stars Imogen Poots (The Father, 28 Days Later) as Rose, with Tom Vaughan-Lawlor (Love/Hate, Avengers: Endgame) and Lewis Brophy (Kin, The Virtues) playing her accomplices, Dominic and Martin. Also featured is Dermot Crowley (Luther, The Death of Stalin) as Donal.
Baltimore is written and directed by Joe Lawlor and Christine Molloy (Desperate Optimists), who have teamed up with Samson on previous projects, Mister John (2013) and Rose Plays Julie (2019).
Lawlor and Molloy said:
“(Baltimore's story) started to exert a powerful draw on us in how it embodied larger ideas to do with class, social inequality, and radicalisation, as well as questions about identity, who we are, and how we find a place to belong.”
The film is financed by Fís Éireann/Screen Ireland, with the participation of Bankside Films, Coimisiún na Meán, RTÉ, and BCP Asset Management.
Baltimore will screen in Telluride on Friday, the 1st September, playing in the festival's Main Program, known as the SHOW.