Official Selection - Out of Competition 2016 / A Date for Mad Mary / Ireland 2016
The start of adulthood might also mean the end of childhood friendships. Impulsive Mary is looking for a date for her best friend’s wedding. But she can’t get her head round it: Maybe she’s not looking for a boy at all, and maybe it was much more than just a friendship. Seána Kerslake is stunning in the title role of this engaging yet unrepentant story set in the Irish suburbs.
The start of adulthood might also mean the end of childhood friendships. Impulsive Mary comes back home after spending six months in prison for her involvement in a vicious school fight. Her best friend Charlene is getting married in three weeks and Mary needs to find a date for the wedding. But she can’t find a suitable partner and, what’s more, it seems that Charlene doesn’t want to spend as much time with Mary as she used to. So Mary seeks refuge in the company of singer Jess, but she’s just getting more confused. Is Jess the person Mary’s been looking for all this time? And her strong connection to Charlene – was it really just a childhood bond? The character of Mary is a mix of impetuousness and vulnerability, which might describe anyone on the threshold of adulthood, in fact. Seána Kerslake’s Mary is a unique individual and her performance helps the film to transcend the typical genre definitions of conventional romance and coming-of-age story from the suburbs.
Vít Kořínek
82 min / Color, DCP
World premiere
Director Darren Thornton
/ Screenplay Darren Thornton, Colin Thornton podle divadelní hry / based on a theatre play by Yasmine Akram
/ Dir. of Photography Ole Bratt Birkeland
/ Music Stephen Rennicks, Hugh Drumm
/ Editor Tony Cranstoun, Juangus Dinsmore
/ Art Director Kieran McNulty
/ Producer Juliette Bones, Ed Guiney
/ Production Element Pictures
/ Cast Seána Kerslake, Tara Lee, Charleigh Bailey, Denise MacCormack, Siobhán Shanahan
/ Contact Element Pictures
Darren Thornton (b. 1976, Ireland) was brought up around the theatre; he established the Calipo Theatre Company in 1994, where he works as stage and artistic director. He studied film at Cólaiste Dhúlaigh College in Dublin. He made his television debut writing and directing the IFTA award-winning series “Love Is the Drug” (2004). His first short film Frankie won the Prix UIP at the Berlinale in 2008 and the European Academy Award for Best Short Film that same year. In 2011 his second short film Two Hearts also won the Prix UIP (in competition at the Cork FF). In 2003 he established the Sharp Focus film project, which enables young people from Ireland and Northern Ireland to work with professional filmmakers on the production of short films that explore the legacy of conflict within their communities. A Date for Mad Mary is his debut feature film.
Element Pictures
21 Mespil Road, , Dublin 4
Ireland
Phone: +353 161 850 32
E-mail: [email protected]
Darren Thornton
Film Director
Juliette Bonass
Producer
Emma Norton
Producer
Seana Kerslake
Actress
Charleigh Bailey
Actress
Colin Thornton
Screenwriter
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