Newgrange Pictures, Dublin, have today announced their first feature film “KINGS“ which is to go into production in September this year. “KINGS“ is based on Jimmy Murphy‘s critically acclaimed play “The Kings of Kilburn High Road“. The play has been adapted by the award winning writer/director Tom Collins who will also direct. Collin‘s previous credits include Bogwoman, Teenage Kicks – The Undertones and Dead Long Enough. KINGS tells the story of a group of Irish emigrants in London who are reunited to wake one of their friends who was killed by a passing tube train. The friends are forced to confront the possibility that this was no accident but suicide and they must face up to the reality of their alienation as long term emigrants who have no longer have any real place to call home.
“The play is an exceptional piece of contemporary Irish drama – rich in humanity and melancholy, and is intensely emotional. I‘m confident it will make a great film.“ (Simon Perry, CEO Irish Film Board).
KINGS is the first bi-lingual feature film to be produced in Ireland and entirely funded within the island of Ireland with substantial funding coming from the Irish Film Board, The Broadcast Commission of Ireland, TG4, The Northern Ireland Film and Television Commission and the Irish Language Broadcast Fund. It represents a strong endorsement of Irish Language filmmaking in this country.
Micheal O‘Meallaigh, Senior Commissioning Editor, TG4 believes that “this is a very Irish story told in our own language but it is also particularly relevant to the growing immigrant population who will be exposed to the same pressures and alienation that the emigrant Irish experienced in foreign territories. TG4 is delighted that the Irish Film Board and the NIFTC are supporting the project and particularly recognises the importance of the support from the BCI Fund, Sound and Vision, whose support has made it possible to complete the financing structure.“
The central characters left a very different economically depressed 1980‘s Ireland with a mix of optimism and bitterness and have retained and use Irish their mother tongue as a litmus test of their identity and friendship. Set in present day London, KINGS provides an opportunity to engage with the lost generation of Irish men who now find themselves in the back streets of London.
Michael O‘Keeffe, Chief Executive of the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland said: “We are delighted to provide a significant level of funding for “KINGS“ through Sound & Vision, the Broadcasting Funding Scheme. This is an ambitious project which seeks to portray an Irish experience, in danger of being forgotten, and is culturally relevant to the themes of Sound & Vision.“
KINGS will begin shooting in September this year in Northern Ireland, London and Dublin.
For further information contact:
Jackie Larkin, Newgrange Pictures, Tel: + 353 1 4988028
Email: info@newgrangepictures.com
