In the Land of Saints and Sinners written by Northern Ireland’s Mark McNally to premiere at Venice Film Festival
Date Posted: July 27, 2023
The 80th Venice Film Festival announced its line-up earlier this week. Northern Ireland Screen was delighted to see In the Land of Saints and Sinners among the list of selected titles. Written by Mark McNally, the script came through Northern Ireland Screen’s New Writer Focus scheme – a script development scheme open to new Northern Ireland writers.
Set and filmed in Donegal, the film follows a retired assassin (Liam Neeson) in a remote Irish village who gets drawn into a lethal game of cat-and-mouse with a trio of vengeful terrorists. The cast also includes Colm Meaney, Ciarán Hinds, Kerry Condon, Jack Gleeson, Sarah Greene, Desmond Eastwood, Conor MacNeill, Seamus O’Hara, Valentine Olukoga and Mark O’Regan.
In The Land of Saints and Sinners received development support and funding from Northern Ireland Screen. Belfast’s Geraldine Hughes and Terry Loane of Prodigal Films Limited are producing alongside Facing East’s Markus Barmettler and Philip Lee. Kieran Corrigan, Ehud Bleiberg, Danny Dimbort, Nicholas Bennett, Victor Hadida, Marc Jacobson, Lorenz, Adrian Grabe, Daniel Fluri and Marcel Gloor are executive producing.
New Writer Focus has been running from 2015 with a call for scripts going out annually. Other scripts that have come through New Writer Focus in the past include Kevin Fitzpatrick’s The Last Rifleman which filmed in Northern Ireland last year and stars Pierce Brosnan. A Bump Along the Way written by Tess McGowan and starring Bronagh Gallagher and Lola Petticrew had its international premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2019, was subsequently released in cinemas, nominated for Best Film at the IFTAs and continues to charm audiences today, streaming on demand across a host of major platforms.
Venice Film Festival takes place at Venice Lido from 30 August to 9 September 2023.
