The first Irish language film to be filmed and produced in Northern Ireland is set to be released in cinemas across Ireland today, Friday 28 January.
Doineann, meaning ‘stormy weather’ in Irish, was produced by award-winning Belfast based production house DoubleBand Films and is the feature debut from Damian McCann with the screenplay penned by upcoming local filmmaker, Aislinn Clarke.
Starring Love/Hate actor Peter Coonan, Bríd Brennan (Calm With Horses, Brooklyn), Clare Monnelly (Moone Boy) and Sean T. O’Meallaigh (Vikings), it tells the story of the disappearance of a woman and her baby on a remote Irish island. Her husband (Coonan) must put his trust in the island’s retired policewoman (Brennan) to help find his family before a storm hits the island.
“We are thrilled and excited that our feature film ‘Doineann’ can be experienced by Irish cinema audiences in the way we had always hoped from today.
“It is an incredibly proud moment to have produced Northern Ireland’s first Irish language feature film and have Gaeilge spoken on the big screen. We think the audiences will be thrilled and excited too.”
Since the film’s world premiere at the Galway Film Fleadh earlier this year it has gone on to screen at Newport Beach Film Festival in California, the Foyle Film Festival and the Belfast Film Festival where star Bríd Brennan was presented with the Reálta Award for Outstanding Contribution to Cinema.
DOINEANN was produced by Diarmuid Lavery, Christopher Myers and Michael Hewitt for the multi-award-winning film production company DoubleBand Films, with the support of the Irish Language Broadcast Fund, BBC Gaeilge and TG4.