19/01/2015 - Jim Sheridan’s The Secret Scripture begins shooting

Ireland is witnessing rapid film production activity in the New Year. Principal photography has commenced on Jim Sheridan’s The Secret Scripture [+see also:
trailer
interview: Jim Sheridan
film profile], adapted from Sebastian Barry’s Booker-nominated novel and starring Rooney Mara, Jack Reynor, Vanessa Redgrave and Eric Bana. The story follows a 100-year-old woman in a mental hospital and her relationship with her psychiatrist.

February will see cameras roll on Alan Gilsenan’s Unless, based on Carol Shields’ Booker-nominated novel. The film follows a 44-year-old writer, to be played by Catherine Keener, whose teenage daughter inexplicably drops out of college and ends up on the streets of Toronto.

March will see the commencement of production of the first of the films announced as part of the Irish Film Board’s Catalyst Project scheme. Lorcan Finnegan’s Without Name follows a systematic land surveyor who loses his reason in a supernatural environment that defies all boundaries. This will soon be followed into production by Declan Recks’ The Truth Commissioner, a look at the Irish peace process, and Brendan Muldowney’s historical epic Pilgrimage.

Also in the Ireland production pipeline is Richie Smyth’s Jamie Dornan starrer The Siege of Jadotville [+see also:
trailer
film profile], based on the true story of the 35th Irish Battalion of soldiers who refused to surrender and fought back against an army of mercenaries in the Congo.