A Summer of Home Cinema as Setanta Ireland Set to Broadcast a Series of Irish films
New opportunity for Irish audiences across the country to watch a treasure trove of Irish films this summer on Setanta Ireland.
Bord Scannán na hÉireann / the Irish Film Board (IFB) and Setanta Ireland are delighted to announce a new partnership which will see a host of Irish films screening on the Irish television channel this summer, every weekday in primetime.
Audiences will have an opportunity to see a wide variety of Irish features films and documentaries varying from the multi awarding winning film NIGHT TRAIN starring John Hurt and Brenda Blethyn to classics such as THE LAST BUS HOME about a Dublin rock band in the 1970's starring Brian F. O'Byrne (Million Dollar Baby, Mildred Pierce), Paddy Breathnach's AILSA and documentaries including THE TRIAL, the story of the trail of Ramush Haradinaj - the former Prime Minister of Kosovo - who was wrongly accused of mass murder.
The channel will screen one Irish feature film, free to view, every weekday night at 9pm.
Commenting on the news, IFB Chief Executive James Hickey said: "This series will bring Irish films to new audiences and we are delighted to work in partnership with Setanta Ireland on this project. We hope it will raise the overall profile of Irish films and give audiences an opportunity to engage with a range of films from comedies and thrillers to romances and documentaries, which they may not otherwise have a chance to see."
Brian Quinn, Customer Acquisitions Director, Setanta Ireland said: "We are delighted to be part of an initiative that helps bring Irish film to a wider audience. There are some excellent home grown movies that viewers may not have had a chance to see and Setanta will be showing these on weeknights at 9pm on a free-to-air basis. This means they will be on UPC Channel 105 and Sky channel 423. Also it's not necessary to be a Setanta subscriber to view them, they are open to all. We are looking forward to this summer series and hopeful that it will broaden Setanta's audience.'
The first five films announced to screen as part of the series are:
Monday July 4th 9pm
The Last Bus Home (93')
Dublin. 1979. Two young punks, Reena and Jessop, meet on the day the pope comes to Dublin in 1979. Their unholy alliance leads to bed and the formation of The Dead Patriots, a punk band. Three years later, they have become a big band in a small town. The offer of a unique record deal in London increases tensions that had already started to grow within the group.
Tuesday July 5th 9pm
Night Train (92')
Starring John Hurt and Brenda Blethyn NIGHT TRAIN tells the story of an unlikely romance between ex-con Poole, and a quite middleclass suburban landlady Alive. Alice, Poole's
landlady, is charmed by the new world he has created for himself and slowly the two of them find themselves falling in love. Inevitably, Poole's past catches up with him and Alice finds herself drawn into the murky intrigues of his unsavoury friends.
Wednesday July 6th 9pm
H3
Set in the H-Blocks of the Maze prison in the North of Ireland - and co-written by Laurence McKeown who spent 70 days on hunger strike - H3 charts the period from 1981 up until Bobby Sands' death on 5th May 1981. Through the eyes of fictional characters, the hunger strikers' survival is charted with dignity, comradeship and a sense of humour.
Thursday July 7th 9pm
Puffball
Powerful forces are unleashed when a young architect becomes pregnant after moving to an isolated and mysterious valley to build a house and neighbouring farmers move against the unborn child. Puffball is about happiness, grief, fear, loneliness, hope and love... like all our lives. It tells of that extraordinary spark of human life - how by a miracle we come into existence, how we survive and somehow thrive in the face of hostile elements, some human, some natural, and some plain mysterious. And how parents dance to the baby's tune, whether they know it or not. In Puffball, it's a dance of life or death.
Friday July 8th 9pm
Mapmaker
An imaginative thriller about a mapmaker who uncovers the body of an alleged informer while mapping a border beauty spot in Ireland. As local tensions are stirred by the discovery, the mapmaker realises that the completion of his map holds the key to the mystery of the man's death. In continuing his work, he gets drawn into local hostilities and a dangerous political end game.