Virgin Media Television’s season of Irish film announced

Virgin Media Television is to broadcast a season of Irish film, including IFTA winning hits Black 47 and Cardboard Gangsters, as part of its continued support of Irish film and drama, to coincide with the Virgin Media Dublin International Film Festival.

VMTV’s season on Irish film runs from this Friday (February 26) until Friday, March 5, with Black 47 showing first.

The season a host of acclaimed Irish movies, such as Circle of Friends and Watermelon, as well as supporting new and emerging Irish talent with previous Royal Television Society Ireland Student Award winning short films Starry Night, Looking For and Backwater.

Last year’s Virgin Media Discovers Short Film winner, Innocent Boy, directed by John Connors, will also feature.

Bill Malone, director of content at Virgin Media Television, said: “Supporting Irish film and drama has been a key strategy for Virgin Media Television and our season of Irish film celebrates Ireland’s remarkable success in this industry internationally.

“This season of Irish film provides the opportunity to broadcast new and emerging short film-making talent side by side with some of the most successful Irish films of recent years. Supporting the Irish creative sector is vital, particularly now during these challenging times.”

Black 47 (Friday, February 26, Virgin Media One, 9.30 p.m.), a must-see revenge thriller, picked up an the best feature award at last year’s IFTAs. Set in Ireland during the Great Famine, the drama follows an Irish ranger who has been fighting for the British Army abroa as he abandons his post to seek revenge on those responsible for the death of his family. The film stars Stephen Rae, Hugo Weaving and James Frecheville.

The season continues on Sunday (February 28) at 10.15 p.m. on Virgin Media Three with Jimmy’s Hall, which tells the true story of Leitrim farmer Jimmy Gralton, the only Irishman deported from his own country. His crime was to build a dance hall where he encouraged the local community to learn, to argue and to dream, but above all to dance and have fun.

As the hall grew in popularity, its free-spirited reputation brought it to the attention of the church and politicians who forced Jimmy to flee and the hall to close. A decade later, at the height of the Depression, Jimmy returns from the US. Seeing the levels of poverty and oppression, the activist in him reawakens and he looks to re-open the dance hall that led to his deportation. Jimmy's Hall stars Barry Ward, Francis Magee and Aileen Henry.

Circle of Friends (Tuesday, March 2, Virgin Media Three, 11 p.m.) is a classic Irish romantic drama directed by Irish filmmaker Pat O'Connor. Based on the 1990 novel by Maeve Binchy, Circle of Friends is set in Dublin as well as in the fictitious town of Knockglen in rural Ireland. The story centres on a group of university students in 1957 who grapple with conflicts between their physical desires and religious upbringings.

The Playboys (Wednesday, March 3, Virgin Media Three, 10.05 p.m.) is a romantic drama about a young, freethinking woman who scandalises her provincial Irish village in the 1950s by having a child out of wedlock and refuses to name the father. It stars Aidan Quinn, Robin Wright and Albert Finney.

Watermelon (Thursday, March 4, Virgin Media Three, 11 p.m.) is a romantic comedy drama, inspired by the best-selling novel by Marian Keyes, of what happens when a tangled web of deceit pitches one woman, two men and a baby into a romantic minefield. Anna Friel stars.

Cardboard Gangsters (Friday, March 5, Virgin Media One, 9.30 p.m.) was the highest grossing Irish film of 2017. Directed by Mark O’Connor and starring John Connors (Love/Hate, King of the Travellers) in the lead role as Jay Connolly, it tells the story of a group of young 'cardboard gangsters' attempt to gain control of the drug trade in Darndale, chasing the glorified lifestyle of money, power and sex.

As part of the season, Virgin Media Television is airing a number of shorts, starting with Starry Night on Friday (February 26) at 11.30 p.m. on Virgin Media One. With her future hanging in the balance, Cara has a choice to make – abandon her sisters and pursue her dream in London or sacrifice herself so that one day they too might stand a chance. Starry Night was led by a team of women both on screen and off, with almost all of the roles – in all departments – filled by incredible young women at the start of their careers.

Blackwater follows on Tuesday, March 2, at 11.30 p.m. on Virgin Media One. In the depths of rural Ireland, Tommy has done everything to look after his sick father, succumbing to a life of isolation in the process. However, letting go proves to be more difficult than he had ever imagined.

Looking For airs on Friday, March 5, on Virgin Media One at 11.25 p.m. In a world where love is revealed by glowing rings, a lonely young woman struggles to fill what’s missing in her life before discovering things are not as simple as she had thought. Eleanor O'Brien and Mike Walsh star.

Innocent Boy concludes the season on Friday, March 5, at 11.35 p.m. on Virgin Media One. The 2019 Virgin Media Discovers Short Film Competition Winner, it's a story about a young, deaf Traveller boy’s love of his horse and the freedom he feels riding him unsaddled in a silent world of unconditional acceptance. This stands in stark contrast to the world he knows when he turns on his hearing aid, a world of toxic masculinity, bullies and his deep insecurities with the people he loves, who see him as different, a poor 'auld innocent boy'.

Tune in to Virgin Media Television from Friday, February 26, to Friday, March 5, for a week of great Irish movies and film shorts.