Festivals - Dinard British Film Festival: Focus on the Irish Eyes in Dinard section

By Mulder, 10 september 2021

Great Britain opens its doors to the new cinema of its close and beloved neighbor, Ireland.  The five selected films reflect the shadow of the great famine, the nation's poetic soul as well as the confrontation of tragedy with humor and the undercurrents of violence in rural and urban society.

Arracht (2019)

Written and directed by Tom Sullivan
Produced by Cúán Mac Conghail ·
Starring  Dara Devaney, Saise Ní Chuinn, Dónall Ó Héalaí, Siobhán O’Kelly
Music by Kíla
Cinematography : Kate McCullough
Edited by Mary Crumlish · 
Production companies : Macalla Teoranta
Distributed by Break Out Pictures (UK)
Release date : 29 November 2019 (Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival), 6 November 2020 (Ireland)
Running time : 86 minutes
Synopsis : Ireland, 1845 on the eye of The Great Hunger, Colmán Sharkey, a fisherman, a father, a husband, takes in a stranger at the behest of a local priest. Patsy, a former soldier in the Napoleonic wars arrives just ahead of ‘the blight’, a disease that eventually wipes out the country’s potato crop, contribution to the death and displacement of millions. As the crops rot in the fields, Colmán, his brother and Patsy travel to the English Landlord’s house…
  
Calm with horses (2019)

Directed by Nick Rowland
Produced by Daniel Emmerson, Rory Gilmartin, Kate Glover ·
Written by Joe Murtagh
Based on the short story : Colin Barrett
Starring  Cosmo Jarvis, Barry Keoghan, Niamh Algar, Ned Dennehyn, David Wilmot, Brid Brennan, Kilhan Tyr Moroneyn
Music by Blanck Mass ·
Cinematography : Piers McGrail
Edited by Nicolas Chaudeurge, Matthew Tabern 
Production companies : Film4 Productions, Element Pictures, Screen Ireland, DMC Film, WRAP Fund
Distributed by Altitude Film Distribution (UK)
Release date : September 8, 2019 (TIFF), March 13, 2020 (Ireland)
Running time : 101 minutes
Synopsis : In rural Ireland, former boxer Douglas 'Arm' Armstrong has become the feared enforcer for the drug-dealing Devers family, whilst also trying to be a good father to his autistic young son. Torn between these two families, Arm's loyalties are truly tested when he is asked to kill for the first time.

Herself (2020)

Directed by Phyllida Lloyd
Produced by Rory Gilmartin, Ed Guiney, Sharon Horgan ·
Written by Malcolm Campbell, Clare Dunne
Starring  Clare Dunne, Harriet Walter, Conleth Hill, Ian Lloyd Anderson
Music by Nathalie Holt ·
Cinematography : Tom Comerford
Edited by Rebecca Lloyd
Production companies : Element Pictures, BBC Films, Merman Films, British Film Institute, Screen Ireland
Distributed by Picturehouse Entertainment (United Kingdom), Element Pictures (Ireland)
Release date : 
Running time : 97 minutes
Synopsis : Single-mother Sandra escapes her abusive partner with her two young children, only to find herself trapped in temporary accommodation. After months of struggling, she draws inspiration from one of her daughter’s bedtime stories and hits upon the idea of self-building an affordable home. She finds an architect who provides her with plans and is offered land by Peggy, a woman she cleans for. Aido, a building contractor, appears willing to help too.

The Bright Side (2020)

Directed by Ruth Meehanv
Produced by Tony Deegan
Written by Ruth Meehan, Jean Pasley 
Starring  Barbara Brennan, Derbhle Crotty, Siobhan Cullen, Gemma Leah Devereux, Fiona Egan, Tom Vaughan Lawlor
Music by Stephen Rennicks ·
Cinematography : JJ Rolff
Edited by Colin Campbell ·
Production companies : 
Running time : 98 minutes
Synopsis : World weary, Dublin, stand up comedienne, Kate McLaughlin is in a dark place - she wants out. Her morbid prayers are answered in the form of a cancer diagnosis. To placate her family, she begrudgingly agrees to undergo chemotherapy. Armed with staggering levels of cynicism and a plethora of blackly comic jokes, Kate gets off to a bad start with four other women she encounters in the chemo ward; four women from all walks of Irish life, whose unsolicited friendships are perfectly designed to blow open her shut down heart.
  
To the Moon (2020)
Written and directed by Tadhg O’Sullivan
Produced by Clare Strong 
Music by Linda Buckley, Amanda Feery ·
Edited by Tadhg O’Sullivan ·
Running time : 80 minutes
Synopsis : There is perhaps nothing more universal than looking at the moon. As long as humans have walked the earth, our closest heavenly companion has captivated the nightly imagination. A ghostly presence that carries its own monthly death and resurrection, the moon is a melancholy figure. It has been sung to, implored, explored. “To the Moon” weaves its stories and fragments of its cultural history following the cyclical structure of one complete lunar phase.

The patron of the section is Celine Haddad. She is a project manager at Screen Ireland and executive producer of Irish feature films, including the Oscar-nominated Wolfwalkers, Vivarium, selected for Critics' Week in Cannes, and Wolf, which premieres at TIFF next month. Celine previously worked for Creative England, where she was responsible for mentoring emerging filmmakers, developing their scripts and ultimately their first feature films. She has worked on a number of projects including Only the Earth, Jawbone, Fly Away and Fanny Lye Deliver'd...  Céline has also worked at Pathé, first as a creative executive, then as head of creative affairs with major British filmmakers, including Danny Boyle and Stephen Frears

Dinard box office :
To access the cinema session, you will have to buy your ticket in advance:
- either physically at the Palais des Arts et du Festival from Monday September 27th
- or online from Monday September 13th
 
Dinard online ticketing :
Buy your tickets for the screenings online at www.dinardfestivaldufilm.fr from Wednesday September 29

(Source : press release)