Two Northern Ireland films selected for BFI London Film Festival
Date Posted: September 12, 2019
Two projects from Northern Ireland have been selected for this year’s BFI London Film Festival; Lisa Barros d’Sa and Glenn Leyburn’s Ordinary Love and DoubleBand Films’ Lost Lives. Both projects were made in Northern Ireland with funding from Northern Ireland Screen.
Ordinary Love, which had its world premiere at Toronto International Film Festival earlier this week, stars Academy Award nominees Lesley Manville (Phantom Thread) and Liam Neeson (Schindler’s List) as an everyday couple with an extraordinary love, who must find the humour and grace to face a year of adversity.
Joan (Manville) and Tom (Neeson) have been married for many years. There is an ease to their relationship which only comes from spending a lifetime together and a depth of love which expresses itself through tenderness and humour in equal part. When Joan is unexpectedly diagnosed with breast cancer, the course of her treatment shines a light on their relationship as they are faced with the challenges that lie ahead and the prospect of what might happen if something were to happen to Joan. Ordinary Love is a story about love, survival and the epic questions life throws at each and every one of us.
Ordinary Love was written by award-winning Irish playwright, Owen McCafferty. It is a Canderblinks Films and Out of Orbit production, produced by the BAFTA award-winner and BFI Vision Awardee, Brian J. Falconer for Out of Orbit, David Holmes for Canderblinks Films and Piers Tempest for Tempo Productions.
Directed and produced by Dermot Lavery and Michael Hewitt Lost Lives is based on the book by the same name which records every single death and its circumstances since the beginning of modern conflict, The Troubles. DoubleBand’s heartfelt documentary is a cinematic homage to those who died, from all sides. Powerfully narrated by famous Irish and Northern Irish actors, including Kenneth Branagh, Brendan Gleeson, Roma Downey, Liam Neeson, Bríd Brennan and Stephen Rea, the film weaves archive footage with recordings of family and friends responding to the devastating news of the death of loved ones. A score performed by the Ulster Orchestra and striking cinematography complete this elegiac piece. Lost Lives is a BBC Northern Ireland commission made by Doubleband Films.
Tickets on sale for both screenings from 10am on 12th September 2019.
BFI London Film Festival runs from 2nd – 13th October 2019.
