Dublin International Film Festival 2020: Memorable matriarchal themes
Writer, actor and activist John Connors has two directorial efforts in the festival
French film-maker Sarah Maldoror in Women Make Film: A New Road Movie through Cinema. 2018. Great Britain. Directed by Mark Cousins. Photograph courtesy of Cohen Media
One week into this year’s Virgin Media Dublin International Film Festival VMDIFF and we’re a Volta down. Trine Dyrholm, the Danish star of The Legacy and In a Better World, charmed all-comers as she accepted the statuette at the Irish premiere of Queen of Hearts, a heated melodrama framed in cooler Scandi-tones about a lawyer who has an affair with her stepson.
Broken Law offered the first of many John Connors projects. The writer, actor and activist has two directorial efforts in the festival, including the Virgin Media pitch prizewinner Innocent Boy, which screened on Saturday. Broken Law has been a labour of love for the writer-director Paddy Slattery who has spent almost a decade bringing this lively tale of two brothers on opposite sides of the law starring Tristan Heanue as a Garda and Graham Earley as the sibling emerging from prison. Slattery’s crime drama easily boasts more swear words than any other title in the festival and received a standing ovation from a thoroughly entertained audience.