PILGRIM HILL - Evening screening

with Director Gerard Barrett and Lead Actor Joe Mullins Q&A

The Irish Film and Television Academy, along with Element Pictures Distribution, last night (10th April 2013) hosted the Gala Screening of Pilgrim Hill in The Light House cinema, celebrating the win of writer-director Gerard Barrett as this year’s Irish Film Board Rising Star at the IFTA Awards ceremony in February 2013.

Minister for the Arts, Heritage and Gaeltacht Jimmy Deenihan, TD introduced the screening and the film was greeted with rich applause from the packed audience which included guests such as actors Domhnall and Brian Gleeson, Peter Coonan, producers Ed Guiney and Andrew Lowe, IFTA CEO Áine Moriarty , director Dearbhla Walsh and playwright Mark O’Halloran along with members of the cast, Joe Mullins and Muiris Crowley. Séan Rocks from RTÉ Radio’s Arena programme conducted the post-screening Q&A where Barrett spoke passionately on the making the film and the themes which inspired it.

Pilgrim Hill was made on a budget of just under €4,500 in Barrett’s home county of Kerry and has enjoyed success at festivals such as the Galway Film Fleadh (New Talent Award) and Telluride, where the director was named the ‘Great Expectation’. At last night’s screening Gerard Barrett spoke about the overwhelmingly positive response to his feature around the world at festivals but in particular his recognition here at home in Ireland;

“It’s a huge honour to be here first of all because I think to have a film distributed in Ireland now is a huge honour in itself and for us to have it screened here is fabulous. To win the Rising Star was probably the biggest achievement in my career so far and to be honest I think it’ll probably be the biggest landmark of my career because I think what it gives you is a pat on the back and confidence that people have said you’re someone who’s doing well so it was a huge thing for me. I think it will mean more to me than anything I might ever win”.

The film is released this Friday April 12th by Element Pictures Distribution.

About Pilgrim Hill
Jimmy Walsh (Joe Mullins) is a middle-aged farmer living in rural Ireland. Unmarried and ill-educated, Jimmy has unquestioningly assumed responsibility for tending to the remote family land and its livestock, and has taken on the care of his ageing, bed-ridden father in the same manner. His social life amounts to a couple of pints in the pub when he can get away, and Jimmy is clearly finding his life tough. He's not prepared for the turn it is about to take.



Director's Biography
A 24 year-old writer/director from County Kerry, where he studied film and television at Tralee IT, Gerard Barrett has written and directed short films for RTÉ and most recently The Valley of Knockanure, which won top awards at the Kerry Film Festival and Newport Welsh Film Festival. Pilgrim Hill is his debut feature film and was shot on €4,500 over seven days in Kerry, premiering in July at the Galway Film Fleadh, where Gerard won the Best New Irish Talent Award and it was crowned film of the festival by the Irish Times. The film also had its North American premiere at the prestigious Telluride Film Festival where Gerard was selected as the next Great Expectation. He currently works as a writer for the Oscar-winning Brown Bag Films animation company in Dublin.

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