Irish films getting raves at Sundance

Irish cinema is faring quite well overseas at Utah's Sundance Film Festival, with Brooklyn and Glassland scoring rave reviews.

Brooklyn, directed by John Crowley, has been singled out for especially zealous praise. The story, based on the novel by Colm Toíbín, tells the story of a girl in the 1950's torn between separate lives in Ireland and New York City. 20-year-old Saoirse Ronan plays the role to perfection, according to early reviews. Rising Irish star Domhall Gleeson also stars. Deadline.com reports that Fox Searchlight is closing in on a deal to acquire the rights to distribute the film, so keep an eye open!

Gerard Barrett's Glassland features a young taxi driver played by Jack Treynor getting mixed up in some illicit dealings in an effort to make more money to save his mother, played by Toni Collette, from addiction. The performances of both leads were also highly praised, and we have a brief teaser for this one. You can watch it below.

We'll keep you posted on both of these as they move towards securing wide releases. For now, cheers to our filmmakers for representing abroad!