Two Irish documentaries have been selected to screen at the Sundance Film Festival in January.
Frankie Fenton's It's Not Yet Dark which examines the life of Irish filmmaker Simon Fitzmaurice, based on the autobiography of the same name. Fitzmaurice was diagnosed with Motor Neuron Disease in 2008 but has continued his filmmaking career, making his feature film debut last year with My Name is Emily.
It's Not Yet Dark follows the journey of the Fitzmaurice family and includes behind the scenes footage from the set of My Name is Emily. Colin Farrell narrates.
Fenton told IFTN “It's the highest honour to have our film invited to screen at the Sundance Film Festival. We're all smiling with the news. It means so much to our small team to know that we are bringing Simon and Ruth's inspirational story to Utah audiences."
The second documentary to be selected for the festival is In Loco Parentis. Directed by David Rane and Neasa Ní Chianáin, the film tells the story of Headfort, Co. Meath, which is the only remaining boarding school for primary age children in Ireland. It focuses primarily on the school's longest serving staff members, John and Amanda Leyden, who met as teachers in the 1970s and live on the grounds.
Ní Chianáin said "We are so delighted to be invited. When we got the call from the Sundance Film Festival programmers, we couldn't believe it. They said that ‘the world needs a life-affirming film like this at the moment,’. Our audiences in Amsterdam laughed and cried through our film, and we are so looking forward to showing it to an American audience at the Sundance Film Festival next. It is a great opportunity to get our small film about these remarkable teachers in this amazing school out to a wider audience.”
Via IFTN