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Dive into the conflicted and complex life of literary giant Samuel Beckett in Dance First (2024). Strong performances and poetic dialogue elevate the story, capturing Beckett's deep regrets. Not for everyone, this slow-paced drama delves into the depths of creativity, romance, and regret.

As it was announced Samuel Beckett had received the Nobel Prize for Literature, he sighed and quietly spoke, What a catastrophe, which acts as an apt metaphor for the conflicted life depicted in Dance First (2024) . From British director James Marsh, this unusual life story saw Gabriel Byrne portray the absurdist writer as he looked back on his experiences and reckoned with the lives destroyed in his wake. Along the way, we encounter the impact of his relationships with his mother, James Joyce, his wife, and mistress as a profound sense of regret pervades his probing internal monologues with himself.

Dance First (2024)

Director James MarshRelease Date August 9, 2024Writers Samuel Beckett,...

BBC Three have commissioned Galaxy Dance, its first original animation in over 20 years. Here are the details:

In 2003, BBC Three, then a new channel, commissioned Monkey Dust, one of the darkest animated series ever seen on British television.

Written by Shaun Pye and Harry Thompson, it was a sketch show that handled many taboo topics and featured a cast which included Simon Greenall, Sharon Horgan, Morwenna Banks, Rebecca Front, Frances Barber and Kate Robbins. The show ran for three series between 2003 and 2005 and has become a cult classic.

Now, BBC Three have commissioned its first original animation in over 20 years.

The synopsis for the new show, Galaxy Dance, reads as follows:

Galaxy Dance is set amid Eurovision 2989, with the interstellar dance competition seeing a myriad of alien groups and Earth’s human band competing for a prize fund so gigantic it could save the planet from extinction. The only issue...

Exclusive: BBC Three has greenlit a Eurovision-themed animation, its first in two decades.

Galaxy Dance is the youth-skewing RuPaul’s Drag Race UK network’s first animated show since Harry Thompson and Shaun Pye’s irreverent sketch series Monkey Dust, which ran from 2003 to 2005.

Galaxy Dance is set amid Eurovision 2989, with the interstellar dance competition seeing a myriad of alien groups and Earth’s human band competing for a prize fund so gigantic it could save the planet from extinction. The only issue is that Earth is on a notorious losing streak and ‘Galaxy Dance’ is the fiercest contest in the Milky Way. Enter Doyle, Jane and their team of misfits with nothing more to lose.

Starring Liam Bixby (Wreck), Lisa Dwyer Hogg (Dance First) and Mukamajulé Michelo (The Lovers), the one-off is expected to air around Eurovision. Developed by Unreal Engine tech, it is being produced by HaZimation and...

In a genre not traditionally given to brevity, James Marsh’s literary biopic “Dance First” at least has that on its side: In 100 minutes, it races through the key events and alliances in the life of Irish author and dramatist Samuel Beckett, even finding time for some metaphysical musings alongside the cradle-to-grave checklist. But Beckett’s characteristic terseness — or radical “lessness,” to borrow a title from one of his stories — isn’t a feature of this creditable but ponderous film, which ultimately achieves its efficient runtime by skirting any meaningful engagement with Beckett’s work and literary legacy. What’s left is an anatomy of his unhappiness via a procession of stymied or soured relationships: shot with grace, acted with intelligence, but short on Beckettian daring or wit.

It’s another biopic from Marsh, following 2014’s popular “The Theory of Everything” and 2017’s less-seen “The Mercy,” that resists bringing his...

Exclusive: Principal photography has wrapped in Northern Ireland on the coming-of-age comedy-drama The Wise Guy from local production outfit Out of Orbit, starring Darrell D’Silva (Wrath Of Man).

The Wise Guy is the debut feature from writer-director Sam O’Mahony and tells the story of Francis Burns, a lonely boy (and devout atheist) who desperate for guidance and protection, finds an unconventional mentor hiding in the nearby woods; an American Gangster.

The screenplay was developed through Northern Ireland Screen’s New Writer Focus scheme, with production funding coming from Northern Ireland Screen’s New Talent Focus Fund supported by Invest Ni and from post-production house Yellow Moon.

Previous feature films to come through Northern Ireland Screen’s New Talent Focus scheme include Out of Orbit’s The Dig, A Bump Along the Way by Shelly Love, Bad Day for the Cut by Chris Baugh, and The Devil’s Doorway by Aislinn Clarke.

Dance First, a biographical drama from The Theory of Everything director James Marsh about the life of Irish Nobel prize-winning playwright Samuel Beckett, will close the 71st San Sebastian Festival.

The feature, which stars Gabriel Byrne as Beckett alongside Sandrine Bonnaire as his longtime partner, and eventual wife, Suzanne Deschevaux-Dumesnil, will close the 2023 San Sebastian festival on Sept. 30. Dance First will screen out of competition at San Sebastian.

Dance First follows Beckett’s life from his time as a fighter for the French Resistance during the Second World War, through his friendship with fellow Irish literary luminary James Joyce, his rise with such groundbreaking plays as Waiting for Godot, Endgame and Happy Days — which established the Theater of the Absurd movement — to his receiving the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1969, and his later life as a recluse. Written by Neil Forsyth, the film also features Aidan Gillen as James Joyce...

Film Constellation is handling world sales on the Sky Original title.

Principal photography has wrapped on James Marsh’s UK film Dance First which stars Irish actor Gabriel Byrne as Samuel Beckett.

The Sky Original film charts the Irish writer’s life, from his time as a fighter for the French Resistance during the Second World War to his literary rise to winning the Nobel Prize for literature in 1969.

The film will premiere in cinemas and on Sky Cinema in 2023.

Byrne, whose credits include The Usual Suspects and Miller’s Crossing, is joined in the cast by Aidan Gillen, Sandrine Bonnaire,...