Music
24 May 15

Colin Farrell Stars in Irish, Cannes Award-Winning film

An Irish co-production, which received funding from the Irish Film Board, and was shot in Ireland, has been awarded the coveted Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival.

Irish co-production, The Lobster, has scooped the Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival. The film, which stars Colin Farrell, was produced by Ed Guiney and Ceci Dempsey, along with director Yorgos Lanthimos director and Lee Magiday.

The film received funding from the Irish Film Board, which now stands to do very well from the success of the film. The Lobster is the English language debut of director Yorgos Lanthimos, who is best known for his 2009 film Dogtooth, which won the Film Critics Award at the Dublin Film Festival, among many awards and nominations. It also won the Prix Un Certain Regard at the Cannes Film Festival in the year of its release. Lanthimos was born in 1973, in Athens.

The Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Heather Humphreys TD, has issued a statement congratulating Irish producers Ed Guiney and Andrew Lowe, and actor Colin Farrell, on the success of the film.

“This is yet another boost for the Irish film industry,” Minister Humphries said. "I would like to congratulate all of those who were involved in the making of The Lobster. Shot in Ireland, the film is a great example of what can be achieved through international co-production.

“This is the biggest achievement for an Irish film at Cannes in a number of years, and it will undoubtedly create a lot of interest in this thought-provoking production, ahead of its release later in the year.

“The Irish film sector is continuing to go from strength to strength. The Government is committed to maintaining Section 481, the film tax incentive, which plays a vital role in supporting the domestic sector and attracting international productions to Ireland.”

The Palme d’Or was won by Dheepan, a film directed by the French director Jacques Audiard. The film explores the dilemmas faced by a group of former Tamil tigers, who pretend to be a family, in order to gain asylum in France. Audiard has directed a number of critically acclaimed films, including A Prophet, Rust & Bone and The Beat That My Heart Skipped. However, this victory is regarded as a surprise.

"This may not be the director’s most immediately electrifying film,” Andrew Pulver of The Guardian said of the Palme d’Or winning movie, "but in its understated way, it’s an immensely powerful work."