After a long road to production, Dot Television’s racing documentary ‘Crash and Burn’ will make its’ world premiere at Sheffield Doc/Fest this week.
Written and directed by Seán Ó Cualáin ('Men at Lunch'), the film charts the rise and fall of Drogheda’s Tommy Byrne who for a fleeting moment in the early 80’s, was the world’s greatest driver.
Speaking to IFTN about the documentary, Ó Cualáin said that Sheffield was a fitting place for his documentary to screen for the first time.“We went to Sheffield two years ago with this idea and a trailer and from that then, the Irish Film Board, RTÉ, the BBC and Northern Ireland Screen came on board so it is great now to return to Sheffield with the film two years later.”
Director Ó Cualáin goes on to state that he is excited to unveil his documentary to the world as well as the rarely told story of Tommy Byrne.
“I know people think that Tommy Byrne’s story should be a tragic tale – he had so much talent and should have been a world champion”, says Ó Cualáin. “But what we were trying to get across is the journey that he actually undertook. He went from driving in the equivalent of Mondello Park to Formula One inside four years. That’s the level he was operating at. He was so talented and achieved so much and I think that comes across in this documentary rather than just being a story of missed opportunities.”
‘Crash and Burn’ went to the market at Cannes this year where Ó Cualáin’s sentiments were echoed by producer David Burke of Dot Television. Speaking to IFTN last month, Burke said: “I think we have a great story in ‘Crash and Burn’. The recent success of racing films like ‘Senna’ and ‘Road’ prove there is a big market there for films like this. But we also have a ‘Searching for Sugarman’ slant to our story. Eddie Jordan once said Tommy Byrne was the best racing driver of all time, ever better than Senna, yet very few people know who he is so I am very excited to see how it does internationally.”
Aside from ‘Crash and Burn’, Sheffield also has ‘Mattress Men’ screening while Irish documentaries ‘Bobby Sands: 66 Days’ and ‘The Land of the Enlightened’ will compete for the grand jury prize. Short film 'The Grey Area' is also screening and has been nominated for the Student Documentary Award while the Kennedy Films and Newgrange Pictures feature ‘It’s Not Yet Dark’ will be unveiled at Sheffield’s annual MeetMarket as well as 'Bullock Rock' (Directed by Joel Conroy and produced by Besom Productions and Inis Films).
