‘In Bruges’, the debut feature film from award winning Irish writer/director Martin McDonagh (Six Shooter) is to open the Sundance Film Festival on 17 January 2008.
The film, starring Irish thesps Colin Farrell (Intermission, Miami Vice) and Brendan Gleeson (Troy, Beowulf) and British actor Ralph Fiennes (The English Patient), is the director’s first project since winning an Academy Award for his short film ‘Six Shooter’.
‘In Bruges’ is a drama following two hitmen (Farrell & Gleeson) who take refuge in the Belgium city after accidentally killing a child. The film also features performances from Clémence Poésy, Thekla Reuten and Jérémie Rénier.
McDonagh’s feature will receive its World Premiere at the Sundance Festival, followed by a scheduled US theatrical release in February. Geoffrey Gilmore, Director of the Fest commented: “In many ways In Bruges is a quintessential Sundance film—it’s brutal, philosophical, funny, and totally original. Martin McDonagh is a masterful storyteller, a tremendously gifted playwright and provocative risk-taker and we are thrilled to showcase his feature-length directorial debut.”
"Martin McDonagh's hilariously sad first feature is seemingly modest; but, in fact, highly original. No filmmaker I know has made the English language, in all its profane—and here, quite Celtic—glory, such a purely, joyously cinematic medium," said James Schamus, CEO, Focus Features.
The 2008 Sundance Film Festival runs January 17-27, 2008 in Park City, Salt Lake City, Ogden, and Sundance, Utah.
