If the world needed further evidence that Irish cinematographer Robbie Ryan is one of the best DoP’s around, look no further than Cannes 2016.
The Robbie Ryan shot ‘I, Daniel Blake’, directed by Ken Loach (winning his second Palme D’Or after Irish film ‘The Wind That Shakes The Barley’) won the Palme D’Or while Andrea Arnold’s ‘American Honey’ won the Jury Prize.
Ryan, who also earned widespread plaudits and an IFTA nomination in 2015 for lensing the Michael Fassbender led Western ‘Slow West’, also had acclaimed Irish film ‘I Am Not A Serial Killer’ (directed by Billy O’Brien) screening at Cannes.
Written by Paul Laverty and directed by Loach, ‘I, Daniel Blake’ is about a 59-year-old joiner in the North-East of England who falls ill and requires state assistance for disability from the Employment and Support Allowance. While he endeavours to overcome the red tape involved in getting this assistance, he meets single mother Katie who, in order to escape a homeless persons' hostel, must take up residence in a flat 300 miles (480 km) away.
Written and directed by Andrea Arnold and starring Sasha Lane and Shia LaBeouf, ‘American Honey’ is about a teenage girl with nothing to lose who joins a travelling magazine sales crew, and gets caught up in a whirlwind of hard partying, law bending and young love as she criss-crosses the Midwest with a band of misfits.
Check out all our 2016 Cannes news here.