#IrishFilm: Wildcard Distribution acquires documentary film Bobby Sands: 66 Days

bobby-sands_imageWildcard Distribution has acquired Bobby Sands: 66 Days which has just been officially selected for the prestigious Hot Docs film festival in Toronto.  The documentary will have its world premiere at the festival which is the largest documentary film festival in North America on May 3rd.

The Irish rights have been acquired from Content Media who are acting as international distributor and an Irish cinema release is scheduled for this summer.

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.

[quote title=”Brendan J Byrne – Director”]Bobby Sands and the 1981 hunger strike is one of the few stories from the Northern Ireland conflict whose myriad threads weave together to give us the bigger picture, and I was intrigued to explore the life of someone who was prepared to die for their beliefs.[/quote]

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 be releasing the film in Irish cinemas this summer.