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RTÉ News
16-07-2025
- Entertainment
- RTÉ News
Cork director Brendan Canty 'floored' by top prize at Galway Film Fleadh for feature debut Christy
Brendan Canty, the director of the acclaimed new Irish film Christy, has told RTÉ Entertainment he is "floored" by the response to the coming-of-age drama and its Best Irish Film win at the Galway Film Fleadh last weekend. Written by Alan O'Gorman, Christy stars newcomer Danny Power (The Young Offenders) alongside Diarmuid Noyes (Pure Mule: The Last Weeken d, Five Minutes of Heaven). The film follows troubled teenager Christy (Power) after he is thrown out of his foster home and moves in with his estranged brother Shane (Noyes) and his young family on Cork's northside. Watch: The trailer for Christy Christy opens in cinemas on 29 August. "I always knew the home screening would be something special, but I wasn't prepared for just how powerful it would be," Cork director Canty told RTÉ Entertainment after his feature debut's Irish premiere at the Galway Film Fleadh earlier this month. "It was honestly one of the most unforgettable moments of my life. To then go on and win - that was the cherry on top." "Even before the screening, during our panel talk, I could feel it - the audience were really hanging on our every word," he continued. "There was such a buzz in the room. And when the film played, the atmosphere was full of warmth and genuine love. You could sense that people were rooting for it, and that kind of support really floored me." Christy 's cast includes Emma Willis (Vikings, The Young Offenders, Dating Amber), Alison Oliver (Saltburn, Conversations with Friends), Chris Walley (Bodkin, The Young Offenders), and Helen Behan (The Virtues, This Is England '90). The film also features members of The Kabin Studio, a Cork-based community arts collective known for its work in hip-hop and spoken word, and whose Kabin Crew enjoyed a viral hit last summer with The Spark, recorded in collaboration with Lisdoonvarna Crew. The Dublin-based Sleeper Films is among the producers of Christy, which has been funded by Fís Éireann/Screen Ireland and BBC Film. Earlier this year, Christy won the Grand Prix of the Generation 14plus International Jury at the Berlin International Film Festival. Now, director Canty is relishing an Irish cinema release after his debut's success at the Galway Film Fleadh. "I've always believed in this film - the community behind it, the heart that went into it - but seeing how it connected with an Irish audience has made me even more sure," he said. "It's a deeply Irish film, full of hope, humour, and heart. I think it'll really land with people when it hits cinemas." The Galway Film Fleadh winners in full: Best Irish Film: Christy Best Irish First Feature: Horseshoe Best Irish Feature Documentary: Sanatorium Best International Short Animation: Luz Diabla Joe McMahon Award for Best International Short Drama/Fiction: Heat Me Best International Short Documentary: The Miracle of Life and We Were the Scenery (joint winners) Best First Short Animation: One Track Mind James Flynn Award for Best First Short Drama: Internal Bleeding Best Cinematography in a Short Film: The Axe Forgets Peripheral Visions Award: Vitrival - The Most Beautiful Village in the World Generation Jury Award: Where the Wind Comes From Best International Feature Film: Dragonfly Best International Documentary: Gerry Adams - A Ballymurphy Man Best International Independent Film: Adult Children Best Cinematography in an Irish Film: Listen to the Land Speak Best Documentary Project: John Lennon's Island Audience Design Award: Beneath the Surface Best Marketplace Project: Ten Mickeys Pitching Award: The Body + Blood Bingham Ray New Talent Award: Jessica Reynolds Best Irish-Language Feature Film: Báite James Horgan Award for Best Animation Short: Éiru Best Independent Irish Film: Solitary and Girls and Boys (joint winners) Tiernan McBride Award for Best Short Drama: Three Keenings
The Guardian
22-03-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
From the police to the prime minister: how Adolescence is making Britain face up to toxic masculinity
When Adolescence launched on Netflix a week ago, its timing felt uncanny. This hard-hitting series about the malign influence of the online 'manosphere' arrived just as news broke about a story that had been making UK headlines for nine months: that of notorious crossbow killer Kyle Clifford, who raped and murdered 25-year-old Louise Hunt last year after she ended their relationship. The latest update showed that Clifford had searched the web for Andrew Tate's podcast mere hours before killing Hunt, her sister Hannah and mother Carol at their family home in Hertfordshire. The show's star and co-creator Stephen Graham was originally horrified by a spate of violent incidents across Britain in which teenage boys committed deadly knife crimes against girls. The actor said these shocking stories 'hurt my heart' and asked of him: 'What's going on in our society where this kind of thing is becoming a regular occurrence?' He teamed up with screenwriter Jack Thorne – a regular collaborator who has worked with Graham on such acclaimed British dramas as This Is England, The Virtues andHelp – to create a potent drama interrogating this distressing trend. Thorne says they wanted to 'look into the eye of male rage'. The gritty, emotionally charged result follows the working-class Miller family from Yorkshire. Their world is blown apart when 13-year-old schoolboy Jamie is arrested in a dawn raid on suspicion of murdering a female classmate, Katie Leonard. Poignantly, Jamie wets himself with panic when armed police burst through his bedroom door. He repeatedly insists he's innocent. However, it's no spoiler to say that chilling CCTV footage makes clear who was responsible for the frenzied multiple stabbing. This isn't a whodunnit, it's a whydunnit. Exploring what motivated this shocking crime is why Adolescence has struck such a chord. The series tackles the devastating and sometimes fatal consequences of toxic masculinity. The manosphere and Andrew Tate are name-checked in the script but the central character, says Thorne, has been 'indoctrinated by voices a lot more dangerous than Tate's'. Jamie has fallen under the spell of misogynistic influencers and suffered cyber-bullying for being an 'incel'. His parents admit that he would shut himself in his bedroom and be on his computer long into the night. They assumed he was safe but he was secretly being radicalised. His story highlights the corrosive impact of social media on impressionable minds and has resonated profoundly with audiences. Parents of teenagers have been watching rapt, heartbroken and horrified in equal measure – with the show clocking up an astonishing 24.3m views in its first four days of release, four times more than the number two show. It tops the Netflix ratings in 71 countries, ranging from Chile to Vietnam. One British police force has even said it should be a 'wake-up call for parents'. Labour MP Anneliese Midgley has called for the series to be screened in parliament and in schools, arguing that it could help counter misogyny and violence against women and girls. PM Keir Starmer backed the idea, praising Adolescence and saying that he'd watched it with his own teenage children. Starmer added that violence against girls was 'abhorrent … a growing problem … we have to tackle it'. There have been discussions on the BBC's Newsnight and Today programmes. Graham appeared live on CNN yesterday, reflecting on how the internet 'is parenting our children just as much as we are'. This was followed by an interview on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon in which Graham said: 'We're all accountable – the education system, parenting, the community, the government and especially social media.' Thorne has called for the introduction of a 'digital age of consent' by banning smartphones for under-16s. Pundits have suggested that social media giants should do more to regulate algorithm-driven extreme content. A recent survey came to the depressing conclusion that more than half of young women are now frightened of their male peers. The debate was further fuelled by former England football manager Sir Gareth Southgate delivering a televised lecture this week, warning about the dangers of 'callous, manipulative and toxic influencers' and demanding better male role models. His pleas were echoed by feminist writer Caitlin Moran, author of What About Men?, on Channel 4 News. She said toxic masculinity was 'very joyless and very depressing', expressing the hope that Southgate's speech and Adolescence would be a watershed moment. The series has won widespread plaudits both for its tour de force performances – expect all the cast to be in the mix for major acting awards next year – and for its technical virtuosity. Each episode is filmed in one hour-long continuous take, without any cuts, edits or CGI. The camera never leaves the action, adding an immersive tension that suits the unflinching content. As Adolescence fever has gripped audiences worldwide, Netflix has cannily released behind-the-scenes footage of how the filming was achieved via a cleverly choreographed system of cameras being passed between operators, who fixed them to cranes, vehicles and drones on the fly. Sign up to What's On Get the best TV reviews, news and features in your inbox every Monday after newsletter promotion The searing, shape-shifting series is four dramas in one. The opening part is a police procedural. Subsequent episodes switch gear into a school drama, a two-hander play, then finally a kitchen sink soap opera. These chapters combine into a coherent, gut-punchingly powerful whole. Adolescence currently holds a 99% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and has received unanimous five-star reviews. The Guardian's critic Lucy Mangan called it 'the closest thing to TV perfection in decades'. This view was echoed in the US. Rolling Stone's Alan Sepinwall hailed it as 'among the very best things – and an early contender for the best thing – you will see on the small screen this year'. In the New York Times, Margaret Lyons described it as 'a rich work of social critique', describing the third episode as 'one of the more fascinating hours of TV I've seen in a long time'. Safeguarding minister Jess Phillips said: 'Netflix's brilliant Adolescence is not just a drama. It's a disturbing glimpse into the minds of thousands of young boys warped by the violence and abuse they are witnessing every day online.' Social media is similarly overflowing with praise. Film director Paul Feig saluted the first episode as 'one of the best hours of television I've ever seen'. While Bafta-winning screenwriter Sarah Phelps saluted its 'God-tier writing'. Adolescence looks set to become an all-time TV classic. However, its most lasting legacy could be the urgent questions it asks, the vital conversations it starts and the societal change it kickstarts.
BBC News
22-03-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Inside the Pontefract film studios where Adolescence was made
From its chilling plot to its single-take episodes, Netflix drama Adolescence has gripped viewers' attention, racking up more than 24 million views in the past gritty, four-part series has also become one of the most talked about shows on TV, receiving praise from politicians and police for shining a light on online misogyny and violence against women and girls. Written by Stephen Graham and Jack Thorne, the show was filmed in and around studios in a former West Yorkshire mining town, which has also hosted some of the biggest names in the show's success, the BBC took a tour of Production Park in South Kirkby, near Wakefield, to see how it was made. Stood in an empty and echoey 14,500 sq ft (1,350 sq m) room as tall as a four-storey building, it is hard to imagine some of the most intimate scenes in Adolescence were filmed in what is known as Studio spent six weeks here building key sets, including the police station and young offenders institute."We know how much detail and attention went into the production. We saw it first-hand," says Production Park's head of external affairs, Jim Farmery."Me and my colleagues would walk around with the artistic director and get lost - we were transported into a completely different space," adds the facility's head of production services, Richard Blair says real police stations and hospitals "tend to be quite difficult to film in", especially for extended periods of time."It makes it much more practical to come into a studio like ours."Adolescence was filmed at or near Production Park over six months between March and September 2024. The show's producers, WARP Films, had "envisioned it being a northern production from the very beginning", says Mr Sheffield-based company's previous projects include This is England, The Virtues and Everybody's Talking About Jamie - all set away from the capital."There's no reason why Yorkshire can't host these sort of productions," says Mr Farmery, who reveals other production companies have expressed an interest in using Production Park since the release of Adolescence. The school scenes in Adolescence were filmed at Minsthorpe Community College, just a five-minute drive from Production Park, while a nearby suburban setting was used to shoot the opening scene, which sees a 13-year-old boy arrested for the fatal stabbing of a teenage couple Dylan Naylor and Bethany Fletcher's 1960s semi-detached home in South Kirkby stood in for the house where Graham's character Eddie Miller lives. They moved out with their children for three months for filming to take place after they responded to a letter of interest posted through their door."Everything needed to be within a 10-minute drive of Production Park to facilitate the one-shot approach," says Mr Blair."It makes it feel so much more engaging and like you are in the room with them," he adds. As well as TV and film production, some of the biggest names in music - including Beyoncé, Pink and Coldplay - have prepared for world tours at Production 30-acre (121,400 sq m) site hosts six adaptable studios to allow for stages to be built, rehearsals to take place, lighting and sound checks and more."They treat it as if they are going to an arena," says one of the 500 staff working at what their colleague describes as a "production ecosystem".It also plays host to about 200 students undertaking courses related to the live entertainment industry. Staff claim the rigging system on the ceiling of Studio 005 is so big it could hold a Boeing 747 aeroplane, meaning even the most ambitious productions can be supported on this industrial estate in a quiet corner of West theatre productions including Les Misérables and Wicked have also come to life here, while a life-size boat was built in another studio to recreate a vessel at sea as part of filming for the 2023 show Boat on site, a state-of-the art LED screen can display different environments - from kitchens to snow-topped mountains - to create and extend scenes, providing a variety of different backdrops for productions and reducing their carbon footprint by cutting down on the amount of travel needed for filming. "The possibilities in here are kind of endless," says Mr Blair."It's exciting to see what happens next.""The missing piece in the jigsaw puzzle had been a large-scale drama," adds Mr Farmery"We are really, really proud of Adolescence. To help make a production like that was fantastic."
The Guardian
20-03-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Adolescence to The Virtues: the most heartbreaking TV of all time
Adolescence, as the world seems to agree, is a perfect piece of television. However, even perfection has its problems. Adolescence is the sort of show that needs some breathing space afterwards; it's so comprehensively shattering, and will leave you in such a state of emotional despondency, that you can't simply hop straight into the next show. I tried – after episode four, I had to watch a reality show for work – and it was horrible. It was like stumbling from a funeral straight into a circus. Perhaps what we need here is an off-ramp. A bunch of shows that, while they might leave you in pieces, may not pack quite such a devastating punch as Adolescence. Here's a selection of the most heartbreaking television. If Adolescence wanted to make me do anything – aside from lock my sons in a sensory deprivation chamber until they reach adulthood – it was to watch 2019's The Virtues. Like Adolescence, it stars Stephen Graham and was co-written by Jack Thorne, and like Adolescence it's so raw that it sometimes feels impolite to even watch it. Directed by Shane Meadows, it's the story of a father who suffers a comprehensive alcoholic breakdown when his wife and son move to Australia without him. There's repression. There's childhood trauma. There is an ending that will leave you numb for weeks. If you're chasing the hit of Adolescence, this is the place to start. Another collaboration between Graham, Thorne and Meadows, these are a clutch of miniseries, made between 2010 and 2015, that develop the story from Meadows's 2006 film This Is England. All three shows deploy a gut-wrenching intensity that can be hard to bear. There's rape and violence, murder, death and poverty – and some of the narrative is set at Christmas, just to compound the misery. Graham's arc, as a character who struggles to atone for his part in a violent racist attack years earlier, is particularly harrowing. However, there's also a sense of hope in the show, however dim it might be at times, that just about manages to lift you out of the dirt. Written during a depression after the death of his father, Damon Lindelof's The Leftovers has the potential to be one of the bleakest programmes ever. An unexplained event makes 2% of the world's population vanish, leaving the remaining 98% to battle through their grief while a nihilistic religious cult forces everyone to confront their loss. This might be a good next step from Adolescence, because although it starts dark – the pilot episode contains scenes of dog murder – it soon finds absurdity and hope in its miserable premise. The fear of Adolescence is that what happens to its family could happen to anybody. Meanwhile, the Chornobyl explosion was a thing that did happen to many people, and the truth of the disaster was far worse than was reported for decades. There's an innate sadness to the show, of course – how could there not be? – but in its depiction of radiation poisoning and death, it also makes a fitting lurch into horror. Historically accurate bleakness. This show deserves to go down as Russell T Davies's masterpiece. Both the BBC and ITV passed on It's a Sin before Channel 4 picked it up, perhaps fearing that a show about the Aids epidemic of the 1980s would be too harrowing for mainstream audiences. This isn't quite the case – there are moments of real joy here – but it's a hard thing to watch as characters die off, knowing that this all really happened. Like Chernobyl, the show burns with an anger that this was ever allowed to happen. But there's also a deep sense of humanity in every frame. Davies has never written more from the heart, and it shows. This Is Us is compelling: it feels as if it was precision-designed by a team of expert crafters to make as many people cry as possible. It's about a family who experience the familiar peaks and troughs of love, birth, death and heartache, but with everything ramped up to an absurd degree. You find yourself sobbing even though you're being manipulated. It is also aggressively sentimental in a way that Adolescence isn't, which might be a comfort.
