In light of the violent gun attack in the Greektown neighbourhood of their city the Toronto Film Festival’s CEO Piers Handling and artistic director Cameron Bailey announced this year’s first films today with little fanfare.

Mark O’Halloran has taken on a role at UCC, but first he’s starring in his own film as Omar O’Meara, an Irish Muslim from Tuam, writes Esther McCarthy.

The film has progressed to the shortlist of 9 from an initial 80 entries.