Michael Fassbender attended the screening of his latest film, Steve McQueen’s ‘12 Years A Slave’ at the prestigious Telluride Film Festival this weekend - which also featured Irish documentary ‘Natan’ and Irish Film Board-funded shorts ‘Irish Folk Furniture’ and ‘Slow Food Story’.
Fassbender’s third film with director McQueen, following ‘Hunger’ and ‘Shame’, sees the Irish actor play a brutal Southern slave owner in pre-Civil War America in a role already tipped to earn him supporting actor nominations.
The film earned rave reviews and a standing ovation at Telluride, which was followed by a Q&A with McQueen, Fassbender, lead actor Chiwetel Ejiofor, Kenyan actress Lupita Nyong'o and Brad Pitt, who also produces.
As IFTN reported last week, the Irish documentary ‘Natan’, co-directed by Paul Duane and David Cairns, also received a screening at Telluride.
Produced by Dublin-based Screenworks, ‘Natan’ was made under the Arts Council’s Reel Initiative and examines the life of forgotten French filmmaker Bernard Natan whose reputation was unfairly tarnished after his death.
‘Irish Folk Furniture’ - produced under the Irish Film Board’s 'Frameworks' animated short film scheme – continued its successful festival run at Telluride, after winning awards at festivals including Sundance, Global Visions Documentary Festival, Canada and the Red Rock Film Festival, Utah.
An animated tale that looks at the culture and social history of Irish farmhouse furniture, the short is directed by Tony Donoghue and produced by Cathal Black.
A trailer on the Irish Film Board website can be viewed here.
‘Slow Food Story’, an Irish Film Board-funded Italian/Irish documentary, also made up the Irish contingent at Telluride.
Written and directed by Stefano Sardo, the short tells the story of the ‘slow food’ movement which revolutionised gastronomy over the past 25 years as a form of cultural resistance to fast food.
The short was co-produced by Element Pictures and Italy’s Indigo Films, and the trailer for any readers who can speak Italian is available here.
‘Starred Up’ - which was filmed in Belfast and supported by NI Screen - also featured in the weekend’s Telluride line-up and follows the tale of a troubled teenager sent to an adult prison.
The film was produced by Sigma Films, who previously co-produced with Blinder Films on IFTA-nominated thriller ‘Citadel’, and Subotica on 'Perfect Sense'.
The trailer for ‘12 Years a Slave’ can be viewed below:
