25TH ANNIVERSARY OF HFM - Nederlands Film Festival

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Brendan Muldowney Conor Barry Jamie Hannigan Director Brendan Muldowney Producers Conor Barry John Keville Screenwriter Jamie Hannigan Based on an original story Languages English, Irish, French, Latin Genre Historical drama, Action Format Arri Alexa Running time 90 mins Target audience International and National - Period Action Adventure Fans International and National - Audience with Celtic / Irish Interest Budget €4,500,000 Contact Conor Barry SP Films (Savage Production Ltd) Unit F5 Riverview Business Park Nangor Rd Dublin 12 Ireland Tel: +353 86 368 2654 Email: conor@spfilms.ie www.spfilms.ie 2012 NPP 25
Runt Fragrant Films, UK Turning the coming-of-age story on its head, a savant with a deep affinity with the natural world helps his stricken uncle come to terms with a devastating personal tragedy. Synopsis In a small market-town, sixteen-year-old Boy arrives home after his last day at school, only to be thrown out by his mother’s violent boyfriend. His kindly uncle (Drunkle) takes him (and his dog Aarn) into his care for the summer, high up on the hills on his now dormant farm. In the wake of the last foot-and-mouth epidemic, it is a year since Drunkle’s wife hanged herself after the authorities culled her entire flock of sheep – undertaken, she was told, as a ‘precautionary measure’. Since then, Drunkle has neglected the farm and taken to the bottle. Drunkle believes that Boy has special powers as a ‘healer’ and we soon realise that, as a ‘savant’, he can gain profound insights during his epileptic fits. Making manifest his affinity with the creatures of the natural world around him (Boy ‘understands’ the calls of birds and animals and can seemingly ‘become’ the creatures he observes), his kaleidoscopic visions convey the inevitability of death and decay, bestowing on him an inner calm and a maturity beyond his years. It is this that enables Boy to stand up to another farmer, the formidable, bullying Arthur when he accuses him of allowing Aarn to kill his sheep. He is also able, on one hand, to take delight in his first sexual experience with Arthur’s wife, Rhiannon, while on the other accepting the inevitability of her subsequent rejection. After some months, Boy’s presence changes Drunkle’s outlook for the better and he starts, at last, to look after himself. His newfound self-respect leads him to enjoy the company of others – specifically (and secretly) Rhiannon. Told strictly from Boy’s point-of-view, this unconventional coming-of- age story reaches its climax when, in a frenzy of violence, Arthur attacks both Rhiannon and Drunkle, seeking revenge for his wife’s disloyalty and Drunkle’s deception... Director’s statement I responded to two main challenges in the adaptation. Firstly, I wanted to match the novel’s richness and complexity in its evocation of the protagonist’s inner life. I have attempted to do this through both linguistic and visual means. Drawing from the inventive and poetic language of the novel, I have given Boy a distinctive speech style that is intended to articulate his singular worldview. Secondly, I wanted to evoke Boy’s idiosyncratic and compelling relationship with the natural world. He is a character that draws energy from nature in all its manifestations, his understanding of the natural world around him encompassing the reality of decay, cruelty and death as well as its potential for beauty, solace and rebirth. In the film therefore, images of landscape and nature will be used either to show the ‘repressed’ in nature (the cruelty and decay) or as a way of externalising the Boy’s inner life. Director’s profile Ieuan Morris made the Wales Bafta-winning When Pele Broke Our Hearts in 2002. In the same year, he was contributing director to ‘Dal Yma: Nawr’, a feature-length ‘creative documentary’ on the traditions of Welsh poetry, for S4C. ‘Dal Yma: Nawr’ was awarded a number of Wales BAFTAs in various categories and gained the ‘Spirit of the Festival’ Award at the Celtic Film Festival 2003. In 2003, Ieuan wrote and directed the innovative and awardwinning interactive short film ‘Textual @traction’ (12 mins, 35mm). The film was nominated for a UK BAFTA Interactive Award 2005. In 2008, Ieuan wrote and directed ‘Watch Me!’ (13mins, HD video) nominated Best Short Film BAFTA Wales 2008 and selected for Interfilm Berlin International Short Film Festival 2008. Producer’s profile Fizzy Oppé established Fragrant Films in March 2008 after nearly thirty years’ experience in the film and television industries of England and Wales. During this career Fizzy worked creatively with some of Britain’s most innovative and creative writers and 26 NPP 2012
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Page 9 and 10: Death of a Salaryman Vernon Films,
Page 11 and 12: Dust Cloth Toz Bezi Ret Film, Turke
Page 13 and 14: Europe’s Borderlands Europas Gren
Page 15 and 16: Father Ojciec Apple Film Production
Page 17 and 18: Motherland Anayurdu Yeni Sinemacıl
Page 19 and 20: Mudo Impronta Films, Spain Orphan M
Page 21 and 22: Paradise Trips Caviar Films, Belgiu
Page 23 and 24: Parisienne Seansas Film / Fralita F
Page 25: Pilgrimage SP Films, Ireland A grou
Page 29 and 30: Second Life Második élet HVD Prod
Page 31 and 32: South Facing Wall Güneye Bakan Duv
Page 33 and 34: In the Heart Onder het hart Waterla
Page 35 and 36: Into the Blue IJswater Films, The N
Page 37 and 38: Johanna’s Son Johanna’s zoon Ri
Page 39 and 40: Kessels CTM LEV Pictures, The Nethe
Page 41 and 42: Knuckles’ Last Tape Dieptescherpt
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Page 45 and 46: NPP 2010: Life or Theatre NPP 2009:
Page 47 and 48: NPP 2007: The Happiest Girl in the
Page 49 and 50: NPP 2004: Mamarosh NPP 2003: Guerns
Page 51 and 52: Index Titles Again and Again by Cri

25TH ANNIVERSARY OF HFM - Nederlands Film Festival

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