From the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival comes the first trailer for Irish documentary Bobby Sands: 66 Days, which will premiere at the festival on May 3rd.
Bobby Sands: 66 Days, directed by Brendan J Byrne, is a cinematic portrait of the Irish Republican martyr’s epic 66-day hunger strike that grabbed the world’s attention in the early 1980s. The premiere will coincide with Sands’ 35th anniversary, as he passed away on May 5th1981.
Sands famously led a hunger strike against conditions inside Northern Ireland’s notorious H Blocks that made him an international icon. Seeing himself as a soldier in a conflict, he died for the right to be recognised as a political prisoner. The film’s narrative spine is comprised of Sands’ own words, drawn from his hunger strike diary, a unique insight into the man and his beliefs as he embarked on his final journey.
Using eye-witness testimony, unseen archive, reconstructions and animation, this cinematic odyssey serves as both the definitive account of a self-created Irish martyr and a seismic moment in 20th century Irish history.
The film was produced by Trevor Birney and Brendan J Byrne for Belfast based Fine Point Films / Cyprus Avenue Films with the Oscar winning filmmaker Alex Gibney a consulting producer.
Bobby Sands: 66 Days will receive its World Premiere at Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival in Toronto on May 3rd 2016, 9pm EST in the TIFF Bell Lightbox.
Wildcard Distribution will release the film in Irish cinemas this summer.