Strong Irish Line-Up Selected for 55th BFI London Film Festival
Four Irish films LOTUS EATERS, THIS MUST BE THE PLACE, DREAMS OF A LIFE and BERNADETTE: NOTES ON A POLITICAL JOURNEY have all been selected for the 55th BFI London Film Festival which will take place next month.
Alexandra McGuiness' first feature LOTUS EATERS stars Antonia Campbell-Hughes as an ex model and struggling actress on a path of self-destruction. Written by Alexandra with Brendan Grant, the film shot on location in Wicklow, Westmeath and London last year. It premiered at the prestigious Tribeca Film Festival earlier this year. It was produced by Fastnet Films with funding from Bord Scannán na hÉireann/the Irish Film Board (IFB). The Other Side of Sleep which was also produced by Fastnet Films and stars Antonia is screening at the A-list Toronto International Film Festival this weekend.
Following on from its world premiere at the Cannes International Film Festival this summer, THIS MUST BE THE PLACE directed by Paulo Sorrentino and co-produced by Irish production company Element Films will also screen in London in the Films on the Square section. The film which was backed by the IFB boasts a host of stars including Academy Award® winners Sean Penn (Milk, Mystic River) and Frances McDormand (Fargo), alongside Irish talent Simon Delaney (Zonad, Happy Ever Afters), Olwen Fouere (Ballykissangel), Kerry Conlon (Rome) and newcomer Eve Hewson, daughter of U2 singer Bono.
The film which shot on location around Dublin and Wicklow for three weeks last summer tells the story of Cheyenne (Sean Penn), a wealthy former rock star living in Dublin, who embarks on a quest to find his father's persecutor, a Nazi war criminal hiding out in the US.
DREAMS OF A LIFE written and directed by Carol Morley and funded by the IFB tells the intriguing story of a young woman Joyce Vincent discovered in a London flat three years after her death and is a quest to discover who she was, and how she came to be so forgotten.
Finally Lelia Doolan's documentary BERNADETTE: NOTES ON A POLITICAL JOURNEY will be shown as part of the Europa Cinema category. The documentary explores the story of Bernadette Devlin McAliskey's political life in Northern Ireland during the late 1960's. Doolan's film captures a unique figure in the Irish civil rights movement and the struggles of the time through archival footage.
Opening this year festival will be Fernando Meirelles' 360, written by Peter Morgan, and starring Anthony Hopkins, Jude Law and Rachel Weisz. Tarence Davies The Deep Blue Sea, that also stars Weisz, will be closing the festival.
The 55th BFI London Film Festival which will take place 12th - 27th October 2011.
More About: THIS MUST BE THE PLACE
In This Must Be The Place Cheyenne, a wealthy former rock star living in Dublin, embarks on a quest to find his father's persecutor, a Nazi war criminal hiding out in the US. And so begins a life-altering journey across the heartland of America to track down and confront his father's nemesis. Cheyenne feels his spirit reawakened by the people he encounters, and his journey becomes one of self-discovery and reconciliation. As his date with destiny approaches and he prepares to come face to face with Lange, Cheyenne must decide if it's redemption he's seeking - or revenge.
THIS MUST BE THE PLACE is an Irish-Italian co-production between Irish production company Element Pictures and Indigo Film and Lucky Red in Italy. The film was financially supported by Bord Scannán na hÉireann/ Irish Film Board, Eurimage, Medusa, Indigo Film, Intesa Sanpaolo Bank and ARP Selection France.