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Welcome to Global Breakouts, Deadline’s strand in which, each fortnight, we shine a spotlight on the TV shows and films killing it in their local territories. The industry is as globalized as it’s ever been, but breakout hits are appearing in pockets of the world all the time and it can be hard to keep track… So we’re going to do the hard work for you.

This week we profile the world’s first ever high-end Gaelic TV drama series, which comes from the Outer Hebrides of Scotland. With only around 60,000 Gaelic-language speakers left in the world, The Island is doing wonders for representation and at the same time constitutes so much more — an entertaining, twisty crime thriller featuring a dose of star power in the form of Industry breakout Sagar Radia. Commissioners and producers tell us the show makes a statement, and they are now setting their sights on international sales.

Exclusive: Filming has wrapped in western Massachusetts on indie thriller After, starring Dónall Ó Héalai (Monster), Tracy Spiridakos (Chicago P.D.), Andy Richter (Conan), Kevin Pollak (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel), Karren Karagulian (Anora), Melia Kreiling (Emily In Paris), Ben Shenkman (Billions), Micheál Neeson (Somewhere Quiet) and Gabriella Piazza (Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning).

Michael Marantz (The White Rabbit) directs from his script about a man named Ethan (Ó Héalai), a retired true-crime podcaster, who is forced to dive back into danger when his sister, Emily (Piazza), mysteriously vanishes.

The project hails from Already Alive and Vagrants Originals and is produced by Krista Minto (Christmas Eve In Miller’s Point) and Dan Kennedy (Honeydew), with cinematography by Tim Sessler.

Ó Héalai stars in the recently released TG4 & BBC Ni Television series, Crá. He’s otherwise best known for his performances in Arracht (Monster) — for which he was nominated for an Irish...

Hillary Clinton, Chelsea Clinton, Siobhan Sinnerton of HiddenLight Productions serve as EPs.

The Lebanon-set feature documentary In The Shadow Of Beirut has been selected as Ireland’s entry for best international feature film at the 2024 Oscars.

‘In The Shadow Of Beirut’: Galway Review

Stephen Gerard Kelly, who co-directs with Garry Keane (Gaza), makes his feature directorial debut. Brendan J. Byrne and Myriam Sassine produced and Hillary Clinton, Chelsea Clinton, and Siobhan Sinnerton of HiddenLight Productions served as executive producers.

In The Shadow Of Beirut is a portrait of modern-day Lebanon as seen through the eyes of four families living in the city.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is expanding its membership.

According to a press release, the organization that hands out Oscars each year at the Academy Awards has extended invitations to join the Academy to 398 artists and executives who have made notable contributions to the motion picture industry.

“The Academy is proud to welcome these artists and professionals into our membership. They represent extraordinary global talent across cinematic disciplines and have made a vital impact on the arts and sciences of motion pictures and on movie fans worldwide,” said Academy CEO Bill Kramer and Academy President Janet Yang in a joint statement.

Read More: The Academy Announces 2024 Oscars Date As Well As Submission Deadline

There are some big names and familiar faces among the invitees, including musicians Taylor Swift and David Byrne, and numerous actors, ranging from Selma Blair to Keke Palmer to “Elvis” Oscar nominee Austin Butler.

“Everything Everywhere All At Once” Oscar winners Ke Huy Quan, Daniel Kwan, and Daniel Scheinert, recent acting nominees Austin Butler, Paul Mescal, and Stephanie Hsu, and bold-face names for the extremely online like Taylor Swift, Abel Tesfaye (a.k.a. The Weeknd), and Warner Bros. Discovery boss David Zaslav were among the 398 people announced as new members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences on Wednesday.

“The academy is proud to welcome these artists and professionals into our membership. They represent extraordinary global talent across cinematic disciplines and have made a vital impact on the arts and sciences of motion pictures and on movie fans worldwide,” said academy CEO Bill Kramer and academy president Janet Yang in a joint statement.

This year’s class of new members is heavy on 2022 breakouts, like the aforementioned Kwan and Scheinert – invitees in both the directors’ brand and the producers’ branch. In keeping with academy practice,...

The Quiet Girl (An Cailín Ciúin), the first Irish-language film nominated for an Academy Award for best international feature, will receive special recognition at the 17th annual Oscar Wilde Awards next month.

First-time feature director Colm Bairéad and producer Cleona Ní Chrualaoí will be on hand March 9 at Bad Robot, the Santa Monica production company of J.J. Abrams and Katie McGrath, to accept the award for the film.

Created by the US-Ireland Alliance, the Oscar Wilde Awards celebrate the work of those from Ireland — and some who are not — who contribute to the movies, television and music. This marks the first time a film is being honored.

“For An Cailín Ciúin to be in the final five, in a category with more than 90 eligible films, is a massive achievement,” Trina Vargo, founder of the US-Ireland Alliance, said in a statement. “It’s lovely to see Irish-language films receiving more attention...

Quiet by name, but quite some fame. Colm Bairéad’s Irish-language coming-of-age film “An Cailín Ciúin” (“The Quiet Girl”) bowed at the Berlinale earlier this year and has been an unstoppable force on the festival and awards circuit. It won top prizes at the Berlin, Dublin and Taipei film festivals and swept the Irish Film and Television Awards. The film opened theatrically across Ireland and the U.K. mid-May and such is the power of its storytelling that it has cinema dates booked through early September, and will represent Ireland in the Oscars’ international feature category. Nell Roddy, co-founder of Ireland’s Break Out Films, which distributed the film in the country, and Jake Garriock, head of distribution strategy and group publicity at U.K. distributor Curzon, share the film’s journey with Variety.

Nell Roddy (Ireland Distribution)

When director Colm Bairéad and producer Cleona Ní Chrualaoi first...

Bankside handles international sales.

Irish-language drama The Quiet Girl (An Cailín Ciúin) has been selected as Ireland’s entry for best international feature film at next year’s Academy Awards.

Writer-director Colm Bairéad’s debut feature has enjoyed a lengthy run in Irish and UK cinemas and grossed €870,000 at the box office. It premiered at the Berlinale and since then has since secured further releases in international territories including New Zealand and Australia. Bankside handles international sales.

Told almost entirely in the Irish language, the film recounts the story of a neglected young girl named Cáit (Catherine Clinch) who spends...

After a year off, the U.S.-Ireland Alliance’s 16th Oscar Wilde Awards returns on March 24, moving to the Ebell of Los Angeles from its longtime home of Bad Robot studios in Santa Monica.

The awards celebrate contributions in entertainment notably from creatives who are Irish (and some who are not). This year’s honorees are Adam McKay, Kenneth Branagh, Jamie Dornan and Dónall Ó Héalai.

“The whole purpose of the event is really to build ties between the industry in Northern Ireland, Ireland and the U.S. And so we built it around honoring talent that have some connection to Ireland,” Trina Vargo, founder and president of the U.S.-Ireland Alliance, told Variety.

J.J. Abrams will be back as the night’s emcee, while Andrew Garfield is a presenter. Guests include Katie McGrath, Reinaldo Marcus Green and Fig O’Reilly. Loah & Bantum and True Tides will perform as musical guests.

The film premiered in Berlin and opened Dublin.

Colm Bairéad’s The Quiet Girl (An Cailín Ciúin) is the latest Irish-language film to garner international acclaim on the festival circuit, following the strong critical and commercial reception for Tom Sullivan’s Famine-set Arracht last year.

The Quiet Girl premiered at the Berlinale last month, winning the main prize in the Generation Kplus section, before opening the Dublin International Film Festival on February 23.

It has been acquired for UK and Ireland release by Irish outfit Break Out Pictures and is handled internationally by Rosa Bosch.

The film is a labour of love from writer-director Bairéad,...

The film premiered in Berlin and opened Dublin.

Colm Bairéad’s A Quiet Girl (An Cailín Ciúin) is the latest Irish-language film to garner international acclaim on the festival circuit, following the strong critical and commercial reception for Tom Sullivan’s Famine-set Arracht last year.

A Quiet Girl premiered at the Berlinale last month, winning the main prize in the Generation Kplus section, before opening the Dublin International Film Festival on February 23.

It has been acquired for UK and Ireland release by Irish outfit Break Out Pictures and is handled internationally by Rosa Bosch.

The film is a labour of love from writer-director Bairéad,...

Arracht is an Irish-language production set during the Great Famine and it is perhaps the first film since Das Boot that caused me to hate the English. Yet Tom Sullivan’s film is not politically charged Anglophobia. Rather, it is a moody character drama that believes all people are capable of evil and violence.

Our focaliser is Coleman Sharkey (Donall O Healai), an Irish fisherman who lives with his wife and infant son in a stone cottage on the Connemara coast. Life is hard for the Sharkey family, yet their bond brings much warmth to their harsh, rural existence. However, the encroaching potato blight makes their position untenable, so the fair-minded Coleman arranges a meeting to discuss the rates with his English landlord, played with simmering haughtiness by Michael McElhatton.

Tense and ambiguous, their meeting at the landlord’s dimly lit estate is the best scene in the film. Much...

James Bond film “No Time to Die” ruled the U.K. and Ireland box office for the third weekend in succession collecting £8.4 million ($11.5 million), according to numbers from Comscore.

Daniel Craig’s swan song now has an impressive total of £68.5 million.

Sony release “Venom: Let There Be Carnage,” starring Tom Hardy, Woody Harrelson and Michelle Williams, opened in second position and collected £6.1 million.

Universal release, horror franchise reboot “Halloween Kills,” starring Jamie Lee Curtis, debuted at third position with £1.5 million.

In fourth position, another Universal release, “The Addams Family 2,” featuring a voice cast of Oscar Isaac, Charlize Theron, Chloë Grace Moretz and Bette Midler, took £1.3 million in its second weekend and now has a total of £3.9 million.

Debuting in fifth place was Disney’s animated film “Ron’s Gone Wrong,” which collected £868,053 it its first weekend of release. Disney also released Ridley Scott’s knights’ saga “The Last Duel,” starring Jodie Comer,...

Director Tomás Ó Súilleabháin’s beautifully shot film takes on one man’s battle with the British, but without judgment

It’s 1847: an Irishman sings a murder ballad about folk hero Colmán Sharkey, a peasant who shot dead his landlord. But the story that emerges in this tough atmospheric drama is that the killing did not go down like that. Set during the potato famine, Arracht is in Gaelic with English subtitles (it was Ireland’s foreign film Oscar entry) and stars Dónall Ó Héalai as Connemara fisherman and farmer Colmán, who brews poteen on the side to trade in the village. His character is unsatisfactorily written, to be honest: too saintly by half, he won’t touch a drop of his own liquor and there are a few too many scenes of him doting on his wife and his baby son.

The film opens two years before the ballad,...

The Irish famine thriller will be remade in English.

Tom Sullivan’s Irish famine-set thriller Arracht (Monster) has been optioned for a US remake by Greg Shapiro’s Kingsgate Films and Patrick Milling-Smith and Brian Carmody of Smuggler. Shapiro is best known as the Oscar-winning producer of The Hurt Locker.

The remake of the Irish-language feature will be in English.

The deal comes in advance of the Irish film’s release in US cinemas (for which no date is yet set) by Gravitas Ventures. Porter Pictures is handling international sales. The film will be released in Irish cinemas by Breakout Pictures on October 15th.

Paul Mescal emerged as one of the breakout stars of 2020 thanks to his performance in BBC and Hulu drama “Normal People.”

Ireland has seen a slew of such acting talent establish themselves in recent years, like Jessie Buckley with her star turn as the pregnant wife of a doomed Russian fireman in “Chernobyl” and Barry Keoghan, who won attention with lead roles in two 2017 films, “Killing of a Sacred Deer” and “Dunkirk.” Keoghan is now BAFTA-nominated for “Calm with Horses,” as is Niamh Algar, whose credits include “The Virtues” and “Raised by Wolves.” Elsewhere Domhnall Gleeson has made a name for himself as General Dux in recent “Star Wars” films, and also in “The Revenant” and “Ex Machina.”

Among the new generation of actors to watch are Fionn O’Shea, chosen as one of the Berlin Film Festival’s Shooting Stars of 2021. A “Normal People” alumnus, O’Shea will next be...

Shortlists to be announced on February 9.

The Academy on Thursday (January 28) published a list of 93 films eligible for international feature film Oscar category.

Algeria’s Heliopolis, about the brutal suppression by French colonial authorities of an uprising in 1945, is omitted from the list. Screen understands the national selection committee withdrew the submission.

There were also a record number of documentary submissions – 238 compared to the previous high of 170 – in light of amended eligibility rules this season due to the pandemic, and a reduced field of 27 animation contenders.

The shortlists will be announced on February 9. The 93rd annual Academy Awards are scheduled...

Films Boutique represents world sales.

Juno Films has acquired North American rights to The Most Beautiful Boy In The World, the upcoming Sundance 2021 world premiere that documents the life of the Swedish child star of Luchino Visconti’s 1971 drama Death In Venice.

Kristina Lindstom and Kristian Petri directed the documentary, which catches up with Björn Andrésen decades after he was plucked from obscurity by Visconti, who described him at the world premiere of Death In Venice as “the most beautiful boy in the world”.

Fifteen-year-old Andrésen became a figure of fascination, even attaining cult status in Japan for his role...

To portray a fisherman suffering through the Great Hunger, a famine that ravaged Ireland in 1845, in the film “Arracht,” lead actor Donall O Healai fasted for months until he was down to virtually skin and bones.

It’s an extreme level of dedication we’ve seen from a number of actors across the years. But because “Arracht” had to be shot in reverse, O Healai then had to rapidly put back on enormous amounts of weight while filming continued.

“The weight loss was a lot, but the weight gain was also dramatic,” director Tom Sullivan told TheWrap’s Steve Pond. “We didn’t really have, because we were low budget the facility to furlough the actors or crew for a couple of weeks as Donall put the weight on. He had to do that immediately. So that was a massive challenge for him.”

“I was trying to gain as much...

Listen up Oscar fans and international cinema aficioniados. We'd been holding off on this three part deep dive into the list of titles vying for Best International Feature Film until the Academy's announcement. Sadly we hear through the grapevine that they're not actually making this list "official" until very late in January. In other words, less than two weeks after they announce the 90 plus titles, they'll be cutting most of them when the finalist list of ten is announced on February 9th. This is no way to treat the movies, giving them such a tiny window of "official" attention. So we're sharing the list of 93 titles (a record) now and doing our deep dive now... with the caveat that one or two titles might change in late January when the Academy makes this official. If things do change we'll republish the list and the articles then. If they don't, we can just link back.

The Irish Film & Television Academy is sending Tom Sullivan’s Arracht as its entry to the 2021 International Oscar race.

The Irish-language movie was selected by a committee featuring Lenny Abrahamson, Ciaran Hinds, Eimear Noone, Macdara Kelleher, Fionnula Flanagan and David Flynn. IFTA CEO Áine Moriarty chaired.

Set in 1845 during The Great Hunger, the film follows a fisherman who takes in a stranger at the behest of a local priest. It stars Dónall Ó Héalai with Dara Devaney, Michael McElhatton and newcomer Saise Ní Chúinn. The film premiered at last year’s Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival.

It was produced by Cúán Mac Conghail for Macalla Teoranta with support from Screen Ireland, the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland, and TG4 as part of the Cine 4 scheme, a new initiative to develop original feature films in the Irish language. It is distributed in Ireland by Break Out Pictures, which will release in spring...

The Irish Film and Television Academy has selected Tom Sullivan’s Irish-language feature “Arracht” as Ireland’s entry for the 2021 Oscars’ best international feature film category.

The film is set in 1845 on the eve of the Irish famine. Fisherman Colmán Sharkey takes in a stranger at the behest of a local priest. Patsy, a former soldier in the Napoleonic wars, arrives just ahead of “the blight” that eventually wipes out the country’s potato crop, leading to the death and displacement of millions. Patsy’s subsequent actions set Colmán on a path that will take him to the edge of survival, and sanity, until he encounters an abandoned young girl who gives him a reason to live. But Colmán cannot escape the darkness of his past.

The film stars Dónall Ó Héalai, alongside Dara Devaney, Michael McElhatton, and newcomer Saise Ní Chúinn.

The film world premiered at the 2019 Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival,...

Written and directed by Tom Sullivan, the film is set on the eve of the Irish potato famine.

Irish-language feature Arracht has been selected by the Irish Film & Television Academy (IFTA) as Ireland’s entry for the best international feature film category at the Academy Awards.

Told almost entirely in the Irish language, Arracht debuted to strong reviews at the Tallinn Black Nights film festival in 2019. The film is set in 1845 on the eve of the Irish potato famine (known as The Great Hunger), when a fisherman takes in a stranger at the behest of a local priest. The stranger,...

Gff award winner Arracht Glasgow Film Festival has announced its 17th edition, which will run from February 24 to March 7 next year, will be a hybrid edition. Cinema screenings will run alongside an online streaming platform, Glasgow Film At Home.

The streaming platform will be launched on November 23 and will operate year-round, with the aim of bringing festival films to audience at home. The first programme will feature four films, including 2020 Audience Award winner Arracht, an Irish drama set against the backdrop of the potato famine, directed by Tom Sullivan. Rúnar Rúnarsson's portrait of modern Iceland, Echo, will also be featured, along with Mattie Do's The Long Walk and Matthew Rankin's faux biopic The Twentieth Century.

Allison Gardner, Glasgow Film CEO and co-director of Glasgow Film Festival, said: “We are delighted to be bringing Glasgow Film Festival back in 2021 in as safe as possible a way. Gff...

Martin Scorsese to present the best film award.

The Irish Film and Television Academy awards ceremony will take place online on October 18th with Martin Scorsese lined up to present the best film award.

Actress and comedian Deirdre O’Kane returns to host the awards and other guest presenters include Liam Neeson, Daisy Ridley, Ruth Negga, Pierce Brosnan and Caitriona Balfe.

Normal People lead actors Paul Mescal and Daisy Edgar-Jones will reunite to present a showcase of this year’s Irish nominees. The president of Ireland will give a special presentation to the nominees on the night.

Films in the running...

Best film nominees separated into 2019 and 2020 categories.

Tom Sullivan’s Great Famine drama Arracht and Paddy Breathnach’s homelessness story Rosie lead the film nominations at the 2020 Irish Film and Television Academy (IFTA) awards.

Arracht picked up 11 nominations from 15 feature film categories; with Rosie scoring nine.

Full IFTA 2020 nominations below

IFTA is finalising plans for a virtual 2020 awards ceremony in September; there will be no physical IFTA awards ceremony until April 2021. This year’s best film nominees have been split into two categories: five titles are nominated for best film 2019 and a further five have been nominated for best film...

The black comedy-musical will be released in Irish cinemas later this year.

Irish director Philip Doherty’s black comedy-musical Redemption Of A Rogue was a double award-winner in the online closing-night ceremony of the Galway Film Fleadh on Sunday July 12.

It won the prizes for best Irish first feature and best Irish film as the Fleadh wrapped following its transition online due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Redemption Of A Rogue was also written by Doherty, an award-winning playwright. It is set in the northwestern county of Cavan and follows a man, played by Aaron Monaghan, as he returns to his...

The prestigious Irish film event saw the triumph of Philip Doherty's dark comedy musical Redemption of a Rogue, crowned Best Irish Film and Best Irish First Feature. The 32nd edition of the Galway Film Fleadh (7-12 July), one of Ireland's most prestigious film events, was brought to a close by the traditional awards ceremony, which took place before the digital screening of Tomás Ó Súilleabháin's Arracht. On this occasion, the whole event was held fully online as a safety precaution owing to the current Covid-19 outbreak. This edition saw the triumph of Philip Doherty's dark comedy musical Redemption of a Rogue, which scooped the Awards for Best Irish Film and Best Irish First Feature. Doherty's movie revolves around Jimmy (Aaron Monaghan), a prodigal son who returns home to Cavan to visit his ailing father and seek redemption before he intends to say goodbye to the world. As Jimmy’s father takes.

Cph:dox, the Danish documentary film festival, has cancelled its opening night gala after Denmark’s government responded to the growing spread of coronavirus by asking organizers to pull events featuring more than 1,000 people. The event had been due to kick off with a screening of Kenneth Sorento’s The Fight For Greenland. The festival will otherwise go ahead as planned, with heightened hygiene procedures, unless the government introduces more severe measures to combat Covid-19, organizers said in a statement today.

This year’s Dublin International Film Festival closed over the weekend, with John Connors’ debut feature documentary Endless Sunshine On A Cloudy Day scooping the audience award. Phyllida Lloyd’s Herself, which premiered at Sundance, closed the festival as a gala screening and also took the Human Rights Film Award. Actor Liam Cunningham received the inaugural Lifetime Contribution Award. Elsewhere, Milje Li’s Confucian Dream won in the Documentary Competition,...

Allan Hunter reflects on the 16th edition.

Glasgow Film Festival co-director Allan Hunter reflected on the 16th edition, which drew record audience numbers and a surprise guest in Simon Pegg, as an indirect result of the coronavirus outbreak.

Can you talk about how you feel this year’s festival has gone?

Going into this year, I felt it was a diverse, wide-ranging programme and wondered if audiences would come out… and they have. They’re up for any challenge. As part of our retrospective programme, we had 260 people come to a free screening of Andrei Tarkovsky’s Stalker. They were queuing out the door.

Allan Hunter reflects on the 16th edition.

Glasgow Film Festival co-director Allan Hunter reflected on the 16th edition, which drew record audience numbers and a surprise guest in Simon Pegg, as an indirect result of the coronavirus outbreak.

Can you talk about how you feel this year’s festival has gone?

Going into this year, I felt it was a diverse, wide-ranging programme and wondered if audiences would come out… and they have. They’re up for any challenge. As part of our retrospective programme, we had 260 people come to a free screening of Andrei Tarkovsky’s Stalker. They were queuing out the door.

Tom O’Sullivan’s Irish famine drama received its UK premiere at the festival.

Tom O’Sullivan’s Irish famine drama Arracht won the audience award at the Glasgow Film Festival (Gff)’s closing ceremony on March 8.

The film received its UK premiere at the festival and marks the feature debut of Irish writer-director Sullivan.

Set amid the Irish potato famine of the 1840s, with dialogue in Irish Gaelic, the story centres on a fisherman who finds himself having to care for a young girl after his decision to take in a former soldier with a dark past has unexpected consequences.

Gff award winner Arracht

The Glasgow Film Festival just keeps on getting bigger and better, with organisers announcing as it closed tonight that it has had over 43,000 admissions this time around.

It was also a big night for potato Famine-set Irish drama Arracht, which won the coveted audience award. The film, which director Tom Sullivan attributed in large part to star Dónall Ó Héalai - "he nailed it physically and that just raised the bar for everybody" - had been the most talked-about thing at the festival since its first screening on Monday, so this did not come as a big surprise, except to Sullivan himself. "This was completely unexpected and I am honoured. I would like to, from the bottom of my heart, thank everyone at Glasgow Film Festival for believing in our film and all the people who came and voted. Arracht is a film set during the.

Speaking out with Because We Are Girls at the Glasgow Film Festival Photo: Max Crawford

The blues skies were back on Tuesday morning for day eight of the Glasgow Film Festival and a good thing it was too, as the queue for Andrej Tarkovsky’s haunting science fiction classic, Stalker. Those not attending the screening were slow to arrive at festival hub the Gft, as festival fatigue had clearly begun to set in, but there were still people planning to see four films in the course of the day and one member of the public was already on his twelfth of the festival.

Ingvar Sigurdsson in Glasgow Photo: Ingrid Mur

Attendees were particularly buzzing about Arracht, the Irish tale of famine and other extremes which had caused ripples of excitement the previous night. There was a second chance to catch it on Monday afternoon, along with Icelandic comedy Pity The Lovers,...

Gff co-directors Allison Gardner and Allan Hunter Photo: Eoin Carey

The full line-up for this year's Glasgow Film Festival was announced today. Opening with Alice Winocour’s Proxima, which stars Eva Green as an astronaut preparing for a mission to the International Space Station, the festival includes nine world premières, ten European premières, 102 UK premières and 39 Scottish premières.

The Glasgow Film Festival team launch this year's event Photo: Eoin Carey

Highlights of the festival include Tom Sullivan’s Irish Gaelic drama Arracht, Tim Mielants' dark comedy Patrick and the world première of Hirokazu Kore-eda's The Truth, plus Eliza Schroeder romcom Love, Sarah, whose stars Celia Imrie, Bill Paterson and Rupert Penry-Jones will be among those walking the read carpet at the Glasgow Film Theatre. Legendary Us photographer Susan Wood will visit the city to introduce an exhibition of her iconic celebrity pictures and Chris Cobould OBE will discuss the secrets...