Irish Abroad: Sing Street and 4 Irish shorts added to 2016 SXSW Film Festival

Not content with having the World Premiere of Billy O’Brien’s I Am Not A Serial Killer, the 23rd South by South Southwest Film Festival has now added John Carney’s Irish feature Sing Street, and Irish shorts Ernestine & KitHow Was Your Day?, Geist, and Snowfall.

The festival announced a number of additions to their Midnighters, Festival Favorites, Shorts Programs and Special Events lineups. These include new films from Mike Flanagan, Fede Alvarez, Thomas Dekker, and Sean Brosnan, son of legendary Irish actor Pierce.

sing-street_imageSing Street, which wowed at Sundance, plays in the Festival Favourites strand, which features acclaimed standouts and selected previous premieres from festivals around the world. Sing Street follows a young boy in 1980’s Dublin who starts a band to impress a girl. The film features Ferdia Walsh-Peelo, Jack Reynor, Maria Doyle Kennedy, and Aidan Gillen, as well as English actress Lucy Boynton. Sing Street is produced by Martina Niland (Milo) of Cosmo Films, Anthony Bregman (The Circle) of Likely Story, and John Carney of Distressed Films. Co-production partners are FilmWave’s Paul Trijbits (Alone in Berlin) and Christian Grass. The film was funded by the IFB and Merced Media Partners.

Ernestine & Kit is based on the short story by Kevin Barry, and is adapted by writer/director Simon Bird. The film is an absurd and macabre tale, that sees Pauline Collins and Rosaleen Linehan take a country tour and imagine the terrible, immoral lives people are living today. Ernestine & Kit is produced by Matthew James Wilkinson for UK production company Stigma Films, and John Wallace for Black Sheep Productions.

How Was Your Day? is directed by Damien O’Donnell, who adapted from a short story by Nollaig Rowan. The short which was funded through the Irish Film Board Signatures scheme stars Eileen Walsh as a woman who is excited about the approaching birth of her first child and her resulting experience of motherhood. It was produced by Emmaline Dowling for Suitable Films Limited.

geist_imageGeist sees a shipwrecked fisherman take shelter in an abandoned house on a remote island, but soon realise he is not alone. This beautiful film, from Giant Animation, was directed by Alex Sherwood, Sean Mullen and Ben Harper, with funding from the Irish Film Board

Snowfall is the story of an anxious young man who has a moving experience at a friend’s house party. The film is written,directed, and animated by Conor Whelan.

The SXSW Film Festival runs nine days, simultaneously with the SXSW Film Conference, and celebrates raw innovation and emerging talent both behind and in front of the camera. The 2016 festival runs from March 11th to 19th in Austin, Texas.