Irish talent hope to steal the show at Cannes

AN award-winning film by acclaimed Dublin playwright Conor McPherson will be among a raft of Irish productions showcased at the Cannes Film Festival this week.

The Eclipse, which scooped the best actor award at New York’s prestigious Tribeca Film Festival, will be one of 15 Irish movies on the market for distributors at the top international event, which runs until May 24.

More than 150 top industry insiders will also fly to the south of France to promote and sell the best of home-grown talent.

Louise Ryan, the Irish Film Board’s marketing and communications executive, said the annual gathering was a key networking opportunity.

“The Cannes Film Festival and market is the largest and most important film market in the world, to source finance for their upcoming feature films,” said Ms Ryan.

“The market provides an opportunity for Irish producers to meet with international film financiers, sales agents and film distributors.

“This year, there will be a very strong line-up of Irish films in the market with 15 films selling there, showcasing a wealth of Irish talent.”

Set during a literary festival in the seaside town of Cobh, The Eclipse is the story of a recent widower who is trying to adjust to his role as the sole carer of his two young children, but is increasingly haunted by frighteningly real nightmares.

Musician David Holmes will be performing at a special Irish party next weekend, which will be attended by a raft of international film producers, film festival programmers, sales agents and talent spotters.

Other Irish films on show include Wide Open Spaces, starring Ardal O’Hanlon – a new film from the Father Ted writer Arthur Matthews. Triage, starring Colin Farrell, Perrier’s Bounty, starring Cillian Murphy and Jim Broadbent, and Brendan Gleeson’s Ondine, directed by Neil Jordan, will also be in the spotlight.

The Irish Pavilion is the central point for the Irish presence at the festival, promoting Irish film and Ireland as a film location.

While the Cannes party scene may be a leaner, meaner affair in this year of economic crisis, all-out warfare still looms on the movie front as the globe’s hottest directors, from Ang Lee to Quentin Tarantino, battle for the festival trophy.

“All the great names of world cinema are here,” said festival director Thierry Fremaux as a galaxy of stars geared up for the movie industry’s biggest annual binge to kick off on Wednesday on the palm-fringed Cannes beachfront.

From Brokeback Mountain Oscar-winner Lee to veteran New Wave icon Alain Resnais, back behind a camera at a ripe 86, 20 of the world’s grandest film-makers are competing to take home the coveted Palme d’Or.

Cannes 2009, said movie magazine Variety, will see the festival’s “biggest heavyweight auteur smackdown in recent years”.

Among top-notch directors jetting in are four previous Palme d’Or winners – Tarantino, Jane Campion, Lars von Trier and Ken Loach – who will line up with Pedro Almodovar, Johnnie To, Marco Bellochio, Elia Suleiman, Lou Ye and Park Chan-wook.

Every one of the score of contenders has screened in Cannes before, with the “newest” kid on the block 48-year-old Briton Andrea Arnold, one of just three women up for the prestigious trophy.

The 2009 jury is headed by French star Isabelle Huppert.