Synopsis

A tragicomic drama adapted from a 1992 novel by Patrick McCabe of the same name. Set in the early 1960s, The Butcher Boy is about Francis Brady (Eamonn Owens), a 12-year-old boy, who becomes a problem child due to his dysfunctional family, and displays uncontrollable brutality when he grows up, descending slowly into madness.

Synopsis

A biopic of the period in 1941 during which Irish writer Brendan Behan spent in juvenile prison in England after being arrested while on a bombing mission from Ireland to Liverpool. In prison, Behan is forced to live face-to-face with those he perceived as “the enemy,” a confrontation that reveals a deep inner conflict in the young Brendan and forces a self-examination that is both traumatic and revealing.

Synopsis

Michael Fassbender plays Bobby Sands, the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) volunteer who led the second IRA hunger strike in 1981, in this dramatisation of the efforts by Republican prisoners to regain political status after it was revoked by the British government in 1976.

Synopsis

Four years in the making, The Pipe tells the story of a tug-of-war between a small coastal community and the combined power of Shell Oil and the Irish State. When Shell develops an off-shore drilling platform, the rights of local farmers and fishermen come under threat. When the citizens look to their State to protect their rights, they find that the government is on Shell’s side. What ensures is a struggle of David and Goliath proportions which halts and splits the community and garners the attention of the entire nation.

Synopsis

Through a combination of extensive archival material and intimate interviews, Doolin’s film explores the political life of one of the icons of the civil rights struggle in Northern Ireland. Bernadette Devlin was elected MP for Mid-Ulster when she was 21 years-old and still a student, and briefly rattled the Westminster establishment. She witnessed the Bloody Sunday massacre, and went on to co-found the Irish Republican Socialist Party. She survived an assassination attempt while campaigning for the H-Block hunger strikers in the early 1980s. Now into her sixties, she remains just as articulate and uncompromising, critical of the Good Friday Agreement while still deeply passionate about – and engaged in – community politics.

Synopsis

Set in a Northern Ireland beset by paramilitary extortion rackets, “Angel” follows the story of Danny (Stephen Rea), a saxophonist with a traveling band witnesses the gangland murder of the band’s manager at a dancehall in South Armagh. There is little explicit reference to the “Troubles” but the violence and insecurity serve as a backdrop to Danny’s quest to hunt down the murderers. In doing so his relationship with Deirdre, the singer in his band, falls apart and he becomes a murderer himself.

Synopsis

“Bloody Sunday” follows the events of the Bloody Sunday massacre on 30 January 1972, when British Army paratroopers fired on marchers belonging to the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association in the city of Derry, killing 14 people. The massacre is seen as a key event in the deepening and entrenchment of the “Troubles,” the 30 year period of sectarian conflict in Northern Ireland. The film traces the events of that day through the eyes of Ivan Cooper (James Nesbitt), a civil rights activist and Catholic member of the parliament of Northern Ireland.

Synopsis

Young Brendan lives in a remote medieval outpost under siege from barbarian raids. But a new life of adventure beckons when a celebrated master illuminator arrives from the isle of Iona carrying an ancient but unfinished book, brimming with secret wisdom and powers. To help complete the magical book, Brendan has to overcome his deepest fears on a dangerous quest that takes him into the enchanted forest where mythical creatures hide. But with the barbarians closing in, will Brendan’s determination and artistic vision illuminate the darkness and show that enlightenment is the best fortification against evil?

Synopsis

Patrick “Kitten” Braden (Cillian Murphy) is a transvestite boy stuck in 70s rural Ireland. In a bid to find his errant mother and to escape persecution die to his sexuality, he leaves his village for London. There, he’s taken in by a rock band, falls for the lead singer, has brushes with the IRA, is arrested by the London police, works in a peep show, and poses as a survey researcher for the phone company. Set in a period of high tension between Britain and Ireland, Braden’s nationality and sexuality put him at great risk in London. In his search for his mother and for a safe place to be himself, he makes surprising discoveries about friendship and family. But, will he survive?