The Irish are headed to Park City, Utah for the Sundance Film Festival and, for the third year in a row, so am I!
The Irish films Calvary and Frank will have their world premiere at Sundance and The Last Days of Peter Bergmann, which premiered at the IFI (Irish Film Institute) Stranger Than Fiction event last September, will be competing in the Documentary Shorts Programme.
Calvary is a black-comedy-drama telling the story of a Catholic priest who has one week to put his life in order after being told, during confession, that he will be murdered. The film reunites Brendan Gleeson with The Guard director John Michael McDonagh, and also stars Marie Josée Crozé, Isaach De Bankolé, Aidan Gillen, Domhnall Gleeson, Dylan Moran, Chris O’Dowd, Kelly Reilly, Pat Shortt, and David Wilmot.
Frank is an offbeat comedy from Irish director Lenny Abrahamson. It tells the story of “a wannabe musician who finds himself out of his depth when he joins a maverick rock band led by the enigmatic Frank – a musical genius who hides himself inside a large fake head”. It is loosely inspired by Frank Sidebottom, the persona of the late cult musician Chris Sievey. It stars Michael Fassbender, Domhnall Gleeson, Maggie Gyllenhaal, and Scoot McNairy.
The Last Days of Peter Bergmann, directed by Ciaran Cassidy and produced by Morgan Bushe, tells the story of a man (calling himself Peter Bergmann) who arrives in Sligo town in the summer of 2009. Over the last few days of his life, he goes to great lengths to make sure no one will ever know who he was or where he came from. It won the audience award for Best Short Film at the IFI Stranger Than Fiction event.
All three films were supported by Bord Scannán na hÉireann/the Irish Film Board (IFB). James Hickey, Chief Executive of the Irish Film Board recently said, “Irish films have performed very well at Sundance over the last number of years. Films such as The Guard, Once, His & Hers, and The Summit have all been discovered at the festival and have gone on from there to be distributed internationally.”
Having three films this year at Sundance is a roaring start for the Irish film industry. I, for one, can’t wait to see each one and promise to report all the happenings of Sundance 2014 in the coming days.
Press release from the Irish Film Board at http://www.irishfilmboard.ie/irish_film_industry/news/Major_Irish_feature_films_Calvary_and_Frank_to_screen_at_Sundance_Film_Festival_2014/2340
Blog from John Murphy, editor of The Last Days of Peter Bergmann at http://johnmurphyeditor.com/2013/12/11/peter-bergmann-is-going-to-sundance/
Follow Irish director Ciaran Cassidy’s Twitter feed at https://twitter.com/CiaranCass
Praise for Irish film maker Lenny Abrahamson on Variety at http://variety.com/t/lenny-abrahamson/
Follow John Michael McDonagh, director of Calvary, on Facebrook at https://twitter.com/ReprisalFilms
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In an Irish Home 
The Calvary sounds like an interesting one to me. Love to hear what you have to say about it once you’ve seen it!
Enjoy your time at the festival!!
P.S. There should be more Irish films on this planet; their accent is just beautiful! Makes me miss Ireland even more!!
Thanks Fabia!