Independent Irish feature, ‘Charlie Casanova’ has been selected to have its world premiere as part of the Narrative Feature Competition at this year's South By Southwest (SXSW) Film Festival. The feature is the first non-American film to be selected in six years and the first Irish film ever selected for the Narrative Feature Competition.
The film, independently financed by its writer/producer/director, Terry McMahon (Sisk) stars Emmett Scanlan (The Guards), Leigh Arnold (The Clinic), Damien Hannaway (The Guards), Ruth McIntyre (Shackled), Tony Murphy, Valeria Bandino (The Doppleganger) and Johnny Elliott.
Award winning writer and director Terry McMahon describes the film as: "the story of a ruling class sociopath who knocks down a working class girl in a hit-and-run and uses a deck of playing cards to determine his fate" ‘Charlie Casanova’ shot in Dublin in January 2010 and saw Eoin Macken (Christian Blake) in the role of director of photography and was edited by Tony Kearns (Last Night).
Reacting to the SXSW selection, Terry McMahon tells IFTN: "Janet Pierson, the head of SXSW, was exactly the kind of visionary champion we were looking for. Open enough to watch a film without being defined by either conservatism or cronyism, then brave enough to take immediate action on her instinct, Janet is an inspiration to all filmmakers and a muse to us."Terry will be attending the film’s world premiere at the festival with some of the film’s cast.
The film will face competition from other international films listed in SXSW’s Narrative Feature category including Aimée Lagos’ ’96 Minutes’; Chris Eyre’s ‘A Year in Mooring’; Matt D’Elia’s ‘American Animal’; Janet Grillo’s ‘Fly Away’; K. Lorrel Manning’s ‘Happy New Year’; Robbie Pickering’s ‘Natural Selection’ and ‘Small, Beautifully Moving Parts’ from Annie J. Howell & Lisa Robinson
The South By Southwest (SXSW) 2011 film festival will be held in Austin, Texas from March 10th-19th 2011. For a full list of announced nominees visit http://sxsw.com