The Irish Film Institute will pay tribute to the late Irish cinematographer, Donal Gilligan with a special screening of Kevin Liddy’s award winning 2000 feature, ‘Country’, for which Gilligan was the director of photography. The screening will take place on May 30th at 6.10pm.
Donal Gilligan passed away on Sunday, September 19th following a sudden heart attack. The 46 year old two-time IFTA nominee made his feature director of photography debut in 1994 with Joe Comerford’s ‘High Boot Benny’. He went on to shoot many more Irish and international features including Conor McPherson’s ‘Endgame’; Pete Travis’ ‘Omagh’; Robert Quinn’s ‘Dead Bodies’ and David Caffrey’s 2010 ‘Love/Hate’ which was the last project he worked on.
Irish director Conor McPherson has praised Donal’s work in ‘Country’, noting that it boasts ”some of the most beautifully lit cinematography ever produced in this country, rivalling the work of any of the world's greatest directors of photography.” The special IFI screening of ‘Country’ will be presented by the film’s director, Kevin Liddy. ‘Country’ was Donal’s third collaboration with Liddy, with whom he also made the acclaimed short films ‘Horse’ (1993) and ‘A Soldier’s Song’ (1997).
Co-funded by the Irish Film Board and the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, ’Country’ won Best Film awards at both the 2001 Galway Film Fleadh and the 2001 Verona International Film Festival in Italy. The rural drama stars Des Cave (Veronica Guerin); Lisa Harrow (Jessica); Dean Pritchard (Razzle Dazzle); Gary Lydon (Six Shooter); Marcella Plunkett (Swansong: Story of Occi Byrne) and Laurence Kinlan (Breakfast on Pluto).
Tickets, priced at €9.20, are available from the IFI box office at (01) 679 3477, or online at www.ifibooking.ie.
