‘Sir Henry’s’ and ‘The Shed’, two locally produced documentaries are the Corona Cork Film Festival surprise hits this year, proving the most popular with Cork audiences and becoming 07 festival’s top sellers.
Both films follow two Cork institutions, gone but fondly remembered; ‘Sir Henry’s’, the venue for Sweat Dance and ‘The Shed’, home to the most fervent Cork City F.C. supporters. Originally scheduled for one screening, that quickly sold out, the demand has been so great that the festival has had to put on three screenings.
According to Festival Director Mick Hannigan the local double-bill is a phenomenon he’s never seen before.
“In all the years I’ve been working on the festival I have never seen such a demand for tickets. The people wanting tickets are not your traditional festival-goers but are people with warm memories of one or both venues. Neither ‘Sir Henry’s’ nor ‘The Shed’ were particularly salubrious but they had great atmosphere. It was the
punters who made these places and it is the punters who are clambering for
tickets, booking for groups of up to a dozen at a time.”
“Both directors Keith O’Shea (Sir Henry’s -120bpm ) and Ed Godsell (The
Shed) made these films for local people and they have already been a huge
success. It’s a kind of Where’s Me Culture vibe all over again, celebrating the local!" added Hannigan.