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PRODUCTION / FUNDING Ireland / Belgium

David Freyne’s comedy Dating Amber in post-production

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- The Irish helmer’s second feature is a coming-of-age comedy starring Fionn O’Shea and Lola Petticrew in the lead roles

David Freyne’s comedy Dating Amber in post-production
Actors Fionn O'Shea and Lola Petticrew in Dating Amber

After a five-week shoot in Ireland, David Freyne’s new comedy, Dating Amber [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Fionn O'Shea
film profile
]
, recently wrapped filming and has now entered post-production. The director’s first feature, entitled The Cured [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
(2017), was a sci-fi horror flick set in a post-apocalyptic society, in which a virus that turns people into zombies has been cured. That film starred actors Ellen Page, Sam Keeley and Tom Vaughan-Lawlor, among others. Freyne’s very well-received debut was screened in the Special Presentations section of the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival.

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The story of Dating Amber, penned in its entirety by the helmer himself, centres on two closeted teenagers in mid-1990s Ireland, called Eddie and Amber (both aged 17), who decide to stage a relationship in order to stop everyone speculating about their sexuality. Eddie is keen to follow his dad into the military, while Amber dreams of moving to the liberal hub of London. However, their initial arrangement begins to fall apart, forcing Eddie deeper into denial as Amber realises that a perilous future awaits her best friend unless she intervenes.

The two lead characters are being played by young talents Fionn O’Shea, best known for playing Ned Roche in John Butler’s Handsome Devil [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
(2016) and Major Barker in James Kent’s The Aftermath [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
(2019), and Lola Petticrew, who won the 2019 Bingham Ray New Talent Award at the Galway Film Fleadh for her lead role in Shelly Love’s A Bump Along the Way [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Shelly Love
film profile
]
. Other confirmed members of the main cast include actors Barry Ward (Extra Ordinary [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
Maze [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
) and Sharon Horgan (Catastrophe [+see also:
trailer
series profile
]
Game Night). The cinematography has been entrusted to DoP Ruairí O’Brien (Hostage to the Devil), who was recently involved in the making of Neasa Hardiman’s upcoming sci-fi flick Sea Fever [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
.

Dating Amber received development and production support from Screen Ireland, the country’s main film agency. The feature is being produced by Rachel O’Kane and John Keville (The Hole in the Ground [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
, Good Favour [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
) for Dublin-based outfit Atomic 80 Productions in co-operation with Brussels-based firm Wrong Men (Belgium). London-based Altitude has recently acquired the UK distribution rights and will be in charge of its international sales. Meanwhile, Wildcard Distribution will handle the Irish release of the film.

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