New York-based Northern Irish author and film director Colin Broderick is now working on his new film entitled A Bend in the River. This is Broderick’s second feature, after 2016’s Emerald City, the story of a crew of Irish construction workers in New York, which will be released on Amazon and iTunes in the coming months.

A Bend in the River’s script, penned by the director himself, centres on Matt Donnelly, a writer who returns to County Tyrone from New York for the first time in 26 years, after he is deported for a drinking offence. Once home, Matt is forced to face the ghosts of his past. The protagonist is played by Irish actor and former professional boxer John Duddy. Katie Hughes, the girl who Matt left behind, is portrayed by actress Kathy Kiera Clarke, known nationally as Aunt Sarah in the successful Channel 4 TV series Derry Girls. The cast also includes newcomer Nicola Boyle and winner of the 2018 Best Actor IFTA John Connors (Cardboard Gangsters [+lire aussi :
bande-annonce
fiche film], Release) as well as two cameos by veteran Irish actors Kate O’Toole and Pat Laffan.

Broderick disclosed to Cineuropa that the film is currently in post-production in Los Angeles, and he hopes to have it ready for festival distribution by late August. At the moment, Broderick is also developing a script for a Bronx-set Irish gangster film, which is due to be shot in late 2018. Finally, the director explained why the collaboration with his director of photography Shane F Kelly (Boyhood, A Scanner Darkly) has proven to be very fruitful: “Our cinematographer and I grew up three miles apart in County Tyrone, and we had both been away in the United States for 30 years, so we had a deeply personal connection to this material.”

A Bend in the River is being produced by Julie Ryan (The Young Offenders [+lire aussi :
bande-annonce
fiche film], The Fear) for Dublin-based firm MK1 Productions, which is also in charge of its festival and theatrical distribution.