Irish film selected for Cannes showcase

The Irish film industry has received another major boost with the selection of the home produced Garage in the Director’s Fortnight at Cannes Film Festival.
Coming hot on the heels of the triumph of John Carney’s superb Once at the Sundance Film Festival, it suggests that the Irish film industry may finally be coming of age.
Produced by Ed Guiney, Garage is the second film made by the director and writer team of Lenny Abrahamson and Mark O’Halloran, who made their debut with the hugely impressive Adam and Paul.
"That was a stunningly good movie,” Hot Press editor Niall Stokes commented. “It was brilliantly funny, full of warmth and humanity – and yet it didn’t shirk the hard truths about heroin addiction and the way it crushes people and dehumanises them. I think it’s one of the all time great Irish films, so there is an understandable sense of expectation now about Garage.”
Garage, which was backed by the Irish Film Board, stars Irish comedian and actor Pat Shortt – best known for his Kilinaskully vehicle on RTE – and features a cast which includes Anne-Marie Duff (who also starred in Shameless and The Magdalene Sisters) and newcomer Conor Ryan. Set in the mid-West, the film features Shortt as the eccentric caretaker of a petrol station, a man in search of love as all around him conspires against him.
The film’s executive producer is Andrew Lowe, of Element Pictures, who were also involved in 2006’s Palme D’Or winning The Wind That Shakes The Barley.
"Garage is such a wonderful movie,” Olivier Père, Artistic Director of Directors Fortnight commented. “It is beautifully made and very moving with an amazing performance from Pat Shortt, who will be the great discovery of the international audience at the Fortnight this year."
"For the Irish film sector the Cannes Film Festival continues to be a unique and pivotal contact point with the global marketplace for film,” the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism, John O’Donoghue commented. “The presence of another Irish project in this prestigious event, following on from the success at the Palme D'Or in 2006 of The Wind the Shakes the Barley, is evidence of the consistent high quality of Irish film production. I would like to congratulate the producers and all those involved, including Pat Shortt, Lenny Abrahamson and writer Mark O’Halloran.”
Pat Shortt is interviewed in the new issue of Hot Press alongside Limerick musician Daragh Dukes – with whom he has collaborated on the new Headgear album, Flight Cases.
The Cannes Film Festival runs from 16 to 27 May.