Cycling drama The Racer will feature as part of the Official Selection for the Narrative Spotlight at the SXSW Film Festival 2020 in Austin, Texas this March.
Kieron J. Walsh’s (Jump, Finding Joy, When Brendan Met Trudy) feature is a gripping drama about the Irish opening to the Tour de France in 1998.
Seasoned “super-domestique”, Dom Chabol experiences the most dramatic three days of his life as he faces the end of his time with his team, the end of his career, and even the end of his life, at the opening Irish stages of the notorious 1998 Tour de France, known as the ‘Tour du Dopage’. Hope comes in the form of dynamic young Irish medical student, Lynn Brennan.
Written by Ciaran Cassidy and Kieron J. Walsh, The Racer was shot in Ireland and Luxembourg with Blinder Films’ Katie Holly and Yvonne Donohoe producing along with Caviar Films’ Robin Kerremans and Dimitri Verbeeck.
The film is supported by Fís Éireann/Screen Ireland, Film Fund Luxembourg, Eurimages, Screen Flanders, the BAI Sound & Vision Fund and RTE. Kinepolis Film Distribution (KFD) will release the film in the Benelux territory.
The film’s selection also marks further Screen Ireland-supported project success at SXSW, which saw Irish supernatural comedy Extra Ordinary in Official Selection as part of its 2019 line-up.
The SXSW Film Festival is part of an annual conglomerate of film, interactive media, and music festivals and conferences that take place in mid-March in Austin, Texas. The film festival celebrates raw innovation and emerging talent both behind and in front of the camera.
