Dubliner Barry Keoghan is front and centre in the highly-anticipated film set during the Great Famine.
Black 47, the Irish action film set during the Famine of 1847 in which at least one million people died, is set to be shown in Irish cinemas this September.
The film stars James Frecheville (The Drop, New Girl), Hugo Weaving (The Matrix, The Lord of the Rings), Jim Broadbent (Harry Potter, Hot Fuzz) and Barry Keoghan (Dunkirk, Love/Hate, The Killing of a Sacred Deer). It’s set to be open to the Irish public from 7 September.
Frecheville plays an Irish Ranger who has been fighting for the British Army, only to return home and realise that everything has changed. According to reports, the Australian-native was so committed to the role, that he even went so far as to learn the Irish language.
Aussie actor #JamesFrecheville tells us about learning to speak Irish for his role in the new Famine-set thriller #Black47 – saying it was "pretty tough". pic.twitter.com/KX5agJ0dkd
— Entertainment on RTÉ (@RTE_Ents) February 22, 2018
The film was extremely well-received at its world premiere at the Berlin International Film Festival back in February and opened both the Audi Dublin International Film Festival and Belfast Film Festival back in March.
Black ’47 is directed by Lance Daly. Daly’s previous films include Life’s a Breeze, which premiered at Toronto Film Festival.
His breakout feature Kisses was named the Best Feature Film at the Galway Film Fleadh, Foyle and Miami film festivals, was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award and the Golden Leopard at Locarno.
It became the highest grossing Irish film of that year, paving the way for Lance to pick up Best Director at the IFTA’s back in 2009.
Clip via Moviex Trailer_Official
“It’s 1847 and Ireland is in the grip of the Great Famine that has ravaged the country for two long years. Feeney, a hardened Irish Ranger who has fought for the British Army abroad, abandons his post to return home and reunite with his estranged family.
“He’s seen more than his share of horrors, but nothing prepares him for the famine’s hopeless destruction of his homeland that has brutalised his people and where there seems to be no law and order. He discovers his mother starved to death and his brother hanged by the brutal hand of the English. With little else to live for, he sets a destructive path to avenge his family. Hannah, an ageing British soldier and famed tracker of deserters, is sent to stop Feeney before he can further stoke the fires of revolution.
“But Hannah and Feeney are old army comrades, forged by their time fighting together. Personal bonds and shifting allegiances cause both men to question their motives, as they are tested to the limit by the hellish landscape of ‘The Great Hunger’.”
The screenplay is written by PJ Dillon (Rewind), Pierce Ryan (Standby), Eugene O’Brien (Eden), and Lance Daly. The score was composed by Brian Byrne and was recorded by the RTÉ Concert Orchestra in the Radio Centre in RTÉ.
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