News

Screen Ireland supported Documentary Million Dollar Pigeons To Be Released In Irish Cinemas on 25th November

Posted: 18th October 2022

We are delighted to share that Wildcard Distribution have announced that they will be releasing Gavin Fitzgerald’s Million Dollar Pigeons in Irish cinemas on 25th November.  The news comes ahead of the film’s screening at the Kerry International Film Festival this weekend.

 

The Irish documentary is about the passionate and ferociously competitive international pigeon masters, known as fanciers, that will do whatever it takes to win. Big bucks, sweat, tears and sleepless nights are invested into these feathered athletes, yet on race day all they can do is wait, hope and pray.

Fitzgerald’s guide into this competitive racing world is Ireland-based pigeon fancier John O’Brien. A father of two, he has 60 pigeons, including race winner “Big Balls”, that he routinely trains. Citing a vision that appeared to him while hallucinating as confirmation that he was meant to be in the sport, O’Brien has a big dream he wants to achieve.

Flying under the radar are a group of pigeon masters from the US, Thailand, China and South Africa, competing   in one of the most lucrative bird races on the planet. Each event is stranger and more exciting than the last. When scandal taints the crown-jewel event, the community is rocked and the future of the sport is up in the air.

The film had its world premiere at the prestigious Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival and had its Irish premiere at the Galway Film Fleadh earlier this year.  It will screen at the Kerry International Film Festival this Sunday 23rd October at 4.15pm in IMC Killarney. 

Million Dollar Pigeons was produced by Samantha Corr for Venom Films (His & Hers, Katie). 

Wildcard Distribution is working in partnership with Dogwoof, the international sales agent, on the release. The film is proudly supported by Screen Ireland.

Million Dollar Pigeons will be released in cinemas across Ireland on the 25th November.  

 

About Wildcard Distribution

Established in early 2013, Wildcard is currently Ireland’s most successful film distributor having released the biggest Irish titles of the last few years including Black 47, The Young Offenders, Cardboard Gangsters, Deadly Cuts and the Oscar-nominated animation Wolfwalkers.  The Wildcard slate includes a wide range of genres including award-winning dramas, horrors, comedies, family films and documentaries. 

About Dogwoof

Dogwoof is a London-based documentary film company integrating production, sales, and UK theatrical distribution. Dogwoof has so far released 28 Oscar®-nominated documentaries, with four wins and an additional three BAFTA winners; notable titles include Oscar®-winning and BAFTA-winning Free Solo (the UK's highest-grossing documentary of 2018), BAFTA-nominated Apollo 11 (the UK's highest-grossing doc of 2019), double-Oscar® nominated and BAFTA-nominated Collective, BAFTA-winning The Act of Killing, and Blackfish. Dogwoof is increasingly ramping up its production activities and recent titles it has financed and produced include Playing with Sharks (Sundance 2021, sold to National Geographic), The Lost Leonardo (Tribeca 2021, sold to Sony Pictures Classics), Citizen Ashe (Telluride 2021, sold to CNN / HBO Max), and McEnroe (Tribeca 2022, sold to Showtime).  Dogwoof started 2022 with three films in Sundance: Midwives by Snow Hnin Ei Hlaing, which won the World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award; Jono McLeod's My Old School featuring Alan Cumming; and Riotsville, USA from Sierra Pettengill. It recently launched four films at Tribeca: Lynch/Oz by Alexandre O Philippe, McEnroe by Barney Douglas, Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, a Journey, a Song, and Dreaming Walls by Maya Duverdier and Amelie van Elmbt, executive produced by Martin Scorsese.