Saipan film to get world premiere at major film festival next month
Steve Coogan and Éanna Hardwicke in Saipan.
A new film detailing an infamous confrontation ahead of the 2002 FIFA World Cup will see its world premiere next month.
, which follows Republic of Ireland football captain Roy Keane, played by Cork actor Éanna Hardwicke, and his national team manager Mick McCarthy, playe by Steve Coogan, will premiere at the prestigious Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) next month. It will screen as part of the Centrepiece programme, which recognises the best of international cinema.
“Having premiered our last film at TIFF we are thrilled to be returning with Saipan and are so honoured to be included in the stellar TIFF 50 lineup. It is such a special festival to screen and watch films and TIFF audiences are the very best,” said directors Lisa Barros D’Sa and Glenn Leyburn.
is described as the definitive account of one of the most fractious fallings-out in the history of sport and the film joins the lineup for TIFF’s landmark 50th edition.
Supporting cast include Alice Lowe ( ), Jamie Beamish ( ), Alex Murphy ( ), Harriet Cains ( ) and Peter McDonald ( ).
Screenplay writer Paul Fraser recently told the the Saipan drama was a huge international story.
“In the UK, he was massive, Roy Keane, and anyone who knows football also knows who Mick McCarthy is. So it's a story that's international as well as huge in Ireland. It was just massive, and I think divided the nation.”
Last month, Roy Keane told a sold-out audience at Live at the Marquee that he does not intend to watch the film.
TIFF runs from September 4 - 14. will release in cinemas across Ireland and the UK at a later date.
