Northern Irish director Stephen Fingleton has received a Special Jury Mention in the category of New Narrative Director at the 2015 Tribeca Film Festival, currently underway in New York.
Fingleton’s debut feature ‘The Survivalist’ has screened to positive reviews at the world-renowned festival from publications such as Screen International and The Hollywood Reporter. The dystopian thriller is also slated to make its’ premiere on this side of the water as the closing film of The Belfast Film Festival, which concludes on 26 April.
‘The Survivalist’ is the near future story of a man eking out a meagre existence on a secluded smallholding deep in the forest. When a starving woman and her teenage daughter discover his farm, his loneliness drives him to strike a bargain with them in return for bed and board. But as desire becomes stronger than necessity, the exchange becomes an uneasy, ongoing arrangement which threatens not only his carefully constructed world but also his life.
The film was developed with the support of the BFI Film Fund and Northern Ireland Screen’s New Talent Focus Scheme and the screenplay was previously featured on the Hollywood Blacklist and topped the UK Brit List.
It is the latest recognition for acclaimed writer/director Stephen Fingleton - whose IFTA-nominated short film ‘SLR’ (starring Liam Cunningham) was shortlisted for the 2015 Best Live Action Short Film Oscar and who has been previously been selected as one of Screen’s Stars of Tomorrow.
Check out IFTN's interview with Fingleton earlier this year here.