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Cannes prize for Bobby Sands film | Cannes prize for Bobby Sands film |
(about 19 hours later) | |
Artist Steve McQueen's debut film Hunger - about IRA hunger striker Bobby Sands' final days - has won the Camera d'Or prize at the Cannes Film Festival. | Artist Steve McQueen's debut film Hunger - about IRA hunger striker Bobby Sands' final days - has won the Camera d'Or prize at the Cannes Film Festival. |
The award, given out each year to first-time film-makers, was given to McQueen by US actor Dennis Hopper. | The award, given out each year to first-time film-makers, was given to McQueen by US actor Dennis Hopper. |
"The film is about people in a situation of extreme pressure and what people do and what we do," McQueen told the festival's closing ceremony. | "The film is about people in a situation of extreme pressure and what people do and what we do," McQueen told the festival's closing ceremony. |
Hunger stars Michael Fassbender as Sands, who died aged 27 in 1981. | Hunger stars Michael Fassbender as Sands, who died aged 27 in 1981. |
There was this man called Bobby Sands whose image appeared on TV with a number underneath it Steve McQueen Hunger's forceful look at Ireland The actor had to go on a medically-supervised diet to portray Sands, who refused food for 66 days in the Maze prison in a bid to be recognised as a political prisoner. | There was this man called Bobby Sands whose image appeared on TV with a number underneath it Steve McQueen Hunger's forceful look at Ireland The actor had to go on a medically-supervised diet to portray Sands, who refused food for 66 days in the Maze prison in a bid to be recognised as a political prisoner. |
The film does not yet have a UK release date. | The film does not yet have a UK release date. |
An earlier film on Sands' life, Some Mother's Son, caused controversy when it screened in Cannes in 1996. | An earlier film on Sands' life, Some Mother's Son, caused controversy when it screened in Cannes in 1996. |
Director McQueen, who won the Turner Prize in 1999 for a collection of films which included a Buster Keaton-style silent movie stunt, told the BBC earlier this month he was inspired by the memory of seeing Sands on TV news bulletins when he was 11. | Director McQueen, who won the Turner Prize in 1999 for a collection of films which included a Buster Keaton-style silent movie stunt, told the BBC earlier this month he was inspired by the memory of seeing Sands on TV news bulletins when he was 11. |
"There was this man called Bobby Sands whose image appeared on TV with a number underneath it," he recalled. | "There was this man called Bobby Sands whose image appeared on TV with a number underneath it," he recalled. |
One scene features a conversation between Sands and a Catholic priest about the decision to go on hunger strike. | One scene features a conversation between Sands and a Catholic priest about the decision to go on hunger strike. |
Filmed in one continuous 10-minute take, it was shot on the first day of filming in Northern Ireland and took Fassbender and co-star Liam Cunningham four attempts to complete. | Filmed in one continuous 10-minute take, it was shot on the first day of filming in Northern Ireland and took Fassbender and co-star Liam Cunningham four attempts to complete. |
Hunger was co-written by Irish playwright Enda Walsh and co-funded by Northern Ireland Screen and the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland. | |
The Irish government's arts minister Martin Cullen said it was the third year in a row that an Irish-backed film had been successful at Cannes. | |
He added: "Following the success of The Wind that Shakes the Barley and Garage, this Camera D'Or will keep Irish film practitioners in the world's eye for the foreseeable future. | |
"This film covers a very turbulent part of our history with an unadorned reality and reminds us of how far we have come as an island in the last quarter century." |
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