Saipan to have world premiere at Toronto International Film Festival
Éanna Hardwicke stars as Keane, and Steve Coogan takes on the role of McCarthy in the drama, which captures one of the most talked-about moments in Irish sporting history.
Keane was sent home following the public quarrel with McCarthy, and the incident divided public opinion in Ireland about who was to blame.
Saipan will screen as part of the Centrepiece programme, recognising the best of international cinema, at TIFF, which runs from 4 to 14 September.
Speaking about the world premiere, Saipan directors Lisa Barros D'Sa and Glenn Leyburn (Good Vibrations, Ordinary Love) said: "Having premiered our last film Ordinary Love at TIFF, we are thrilled to be returning with Saipan and are so honoured to be included in the stellar TIFF 50 lineup.
"It is such a special festival to screen and watch films, and TIFF audiences are the very best."
With a script by Paul Fraser (Heartlands, A Room for Romeo Brass), Saipan is described as "the definitive account of one of the most fractious fallings-out in the history of sport".
The film is produced by Macdara Kelleher and John Keville for Wild Atlantic Pictures (Evil Dead Rise, Cocaine Bear, Black 47), along with Trevor Birney and Oliver Butler for Fine Point Films (Kneecap, Bobby Sands: 66 Days).
Patrick O'Neill, Eoin Egan, and Rachael O'Kane serve as executive producers.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Irish Examiner
4 minutes ago
- Irish Examiner
'We just got lucky': Tales from the Cork lads who ran merchandise stalls for Oasis in the 1990s
Morty McCarthy remembers the first time he met one of the Gallagher brothers. It was February 1992, and the Cork man and his band, the Sultans of Ping, were sharing a bill with fellow Leesiders the Frank and Walters at the Boardwalk venue in Manchester. A local lad by the name of Noel popped up during the soundcheck to say hello. He'd been rehearsing in one of the other rooms with an unsigned group he said were called 'Oasis', and wanted to reacquaint with the Franks, a band he'd previously worked with as a roadie. Little did anyone there know that the 'sound' 21-year-old and the four lads banging out tunes in the basement were on their way to becoming the biggest band in Britain. Or that McCarthy would have a front seat on the Oasis rollercoaster. As the Sultans' career plateaued, the Greenmount drummer ended up working with the Manchester band's merchandise material in the era when they exploded onto the scene. His switch of career to the merchandise world originated in his Sultans days when, as the non-drinker in the band, McCarthy was the designated van driver. During a period of downtime in early 1994, he heard that their merchandise company Underworld needed somebody to ferry gear to various gigs. McCarthy signed up, and drafted in his childhood pal Damien Mullally when an opening came up for somebody to look after the company's London warehouse. 'Underworld were probably the biggest merchandise outfit in the UK at the time,' recalls McCarthy. 'We just got lucky, because we all started working literally a couple of months before the whole Britpop thing broke. And Underworld not only had Oasis, they also had Pulp.' Liam and Noel Gallagher messing about at Knebworth in 1996. Mullally and McCarthy enjoyed working in the merchandise, travelling to gigs and making the most of life in London. In true Cork style, they'd even managed to secure jobs in Underworld for a few more of their mates from home. Not that it was all plain sailing. There was still an element of anti-Irish feeling in the UK in the mid-1990s – especially in the wake of the IRA bombing of the Bishopsgate financial district in 1993 – and going around in a van full of boxes meant the Cork duo were regularly stopped and questioned at police checkpoints. 'We also got a bit of it around Abbey Wood where we lived, but things were much better when we moved to Hackney, which was more multicultural,' says Mullally. Meanwhile, between April 1994 and the release of Definitely Maybe at the end of August, a real buzz was building around Oasis. The three singles Supersonic, Shakermaker, and Live Forever, had been hitting incrementally higher chart positions, and the album went straight to number one in the UK charts. The Gallagher brothers had arrived. For the Cork duo, the gigs they worked were getting ever busier, and the few dozen t-shirts and other bits they'd previously sold were now getting to hundreds and even thousands of units. Underworld realised they were going to need a bigger boat. Or at least a decent lorry. This created a bit of a conundrum as nobody in the company had the special licence required in the UK. Step forward the lad with the Irish licence which, at the time, was universal and didn't need the special HGV training. 'I'd never even sat in the truck before,' recalls McCarthy, now 55, of the day they went to hire their new vehicle from a yard near King's Cross. 'I just thought, how hard can it be? We got in and the first thing I did was hit a barrier. I was just thinking 'I'm not going to be able to reverse this. So whatever we do, we'll just have to drive it forward'. I suppose we had this 'It'll be grand' attitude. I wouldn't do it at this age!' Morty McCarthy on a merchandise stall back in the 1990s. Life on the road was a mixture of good fun and hard work. Depending on the tour, Mullally and McCarthy would sometimes be living on the crew's bus, or other times driving to venues themselves. Of course there were some late nights and partying along the way, but the Oasis entourage also had a serious work ethic. 'If everybody knew that did a couple of days off, then there might be a big party and a bit of a blowout. But a lot of the time, people were up early to get set up at the next venue, and working long hours through the day. You wouldn't have been able to do your job if you were partying all the time,' says Mullally, now working at the Everyman theatre in Cork. 'People got on very well on tour. You knew you just couldn't be invading people's private space or doing the langer in any way.' The band themselves travelled in a different bus, but both Mullally and McCarthy recall the Gallagher brothers as being down-to-earth lads who were always pleasant to deal with. 'I think because we were Irish, that helped too,' says Mullally. 'Yes,' agrees McCarthy. 'I even remember Noel joking with us about Taytos and Tanora!' He does recall a friendly disagreement before a gig in Bournemouth when Liam Gallagher fancied his footwear. 'We had this Dutch driver who used to come every week delivering merchandise, and he used to sell Adidas off the back of the truck. I'd bought this pair of orange Adidas. Liam collected Adidas trainers. He was like 'I'm having your trainers.' And I was going no, and he was like '100 quid!'.' While it was predominantly merchandise that kept Mullally and McCarthy involved with Oasis, they also dropped a load of equipment for the band to Rockfield Studios in 1995. Those sessions at the Welsh studio would of course spawn (What's the Story) Morning Glory?,the second album that would propel the band to stratospheric levels of popularity. On the road, part of the Cork duo's job was dealing with the increasing amount of bootleggers who were selling unofficial merchandise near the venues. 'We'd go out to chat to them, and then of course it'd turn out that a lot of them were friends of the Gallaghers from Manchester,' says Mullally. 'They were mostly nice guys so you'd just ask them to push back a bit – 'Just go down to the end of the road to sell your stuff'.' The mid-1990s was an era when everything was paid for in cash. This meant the two Cork lads would sometimes end up with tens of thousands worth of banknotes in cardboard boxes or plastic bags in the back of the truck or in a hotel after a gig. Liam and Noel Gallagher of Oasis arriving at Cork Airport in 1996. Picture: Dan Linehan An event like Knebworth in 1996 – when Oasis played to 250,000 people across two days – created even more issues. 'A few times a day we used to do a cash-run to get the money off the stall. Somebody would come along with a backpack and we'd stuff it with maybe 10 grand in notes," says Mullally. "You'd try to be as inconspicuous as you could walking through the crowd with that on your back, hoping that nobody comes at you.' Knebworth had 'proper' security vans taking the cash from the event HQ, but Mullally recalls the earlier days when himself and his co-worker would have to bank the money. 'You can imagine with all the stuff that was going on at the time, and two Irish guys coming into the bank with 20 grand in cash, sometimes even in deutsche marks if we were after a European tour. They'd be looking at you strangely, and you know that they're just about to push a button. But they might make a few phonecalls or whatever and we'd eventually get it done.' Knebworth is widely regarded as the high point for the band, but McCarthy also has particularly warm memories of the gig they played in his hometown just a few days later. 'I couldn't believe they were actually playing in Cork at that stage,' he says. He drove the truck from the UK via the Holyhead ferry, but as he arrived at Páirc Uí Chaoimh ahead of schedule, they wouldn't let him into the arena. Wary of leaving a truck full of merchandise parked around the city, McCarthy drove it to the seaside village of Crosshaven. 'When I got there I decided I'd leave it at the carpark at Graball Bay. I didn't even know if it'd fit up the hill but I just about managed it,' he recalls. When he went back later that evening to check everything was ok, there was a big crowd of children gathered around the emblazoned truck. 'There was a big mystery in Cork about where the Gallaghers were staying, and the word had gone around that this was their truck. One of the kids asked me 'Are Liam and Noel coming out to play?' I had to shoo them away.' Oasis merchandise has become an even bigger business since the 1990s. Picture: Lucy North/PA Those two Cork gigs were among the final dealings McCarthy had with Oasis. He has since moved to Sweden, where he teaches English, but regularly returns to the merchandising world for tours with various other bands. He's happy the Gallagher brothers are back together, and realises he was part of something special in the 1990s. 'It's hard to explain people the energy in the UK that the Britpop thing had. Musically, I didn't think it was the greatest, but the energy was phenomenal,' says McCarthy. ' I think at the time, the Indie scene was very middle class. But then along came Oasis. We probably didn't realise we were living in a golden era, but we had the time of our lives.'
Extra.ie
2 hours ago
- Extra.ie
Dunne reflects on Henry handball and THAT Russia performance
Richard Dunne had plenty of standout moments throughout his footballing career. Whether it was captaining Manchester City or leading Ireland to the European Championships with his no-nonsense defending, Dunne reached heights that have been somewhat lacking for the Boys in Green since his retirement. However, one of the most disappointing nights of his career is one that Ireland fans remember all too well. A videograb of Thierry Henry's handball that led to France's goal against Ireland in the World Cup play-off second leg in 2009. Pic: Sky Sports In November 2009, Irish hearts were broken by the left hand of Thierry Henry. After Ireland forced France to extra-time on their own turf, a place in the 2010 FIFA World Cup seemed a real possibility against all odds. However, with the match looking like it could head to penalties, a moment that has lived in infamy ever since occurred. When a long ball into the Irish box was slightly overhit and heading out for a goal-kick, Thierry Henry slipped into a blind spot for the referee, blatantly controlled it with his hand and tapped it across for William Gallas to head home. Despite the disbelief from Ireland's players, the referee was none the wiser and the tie finished 2-1 to France on aggregate. Dunne was of course in the penalty box when the incident occurred and he has reflected that while anger and disappointment were the predominant feelings at the time, ultimately they just had to get on with it. Ireland were left in disbelief after the goal. Pic: Laurent ZABULON/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images Speaking with bookmaker Betfree, he said: 'It was just disappointment. You know that a decision has gone against you so there is a bit of that (robbed feelings), but as professional players you deal with it and move on. 'Of course it keeps getting brought up, a bit like Diego Maradona's handball against England, but the players move on and in the heat of the moment you're annoyed and angry but you have to play every game the Saturday afterwards. 'It is tough to take but throughout the course of your career, some will go for you and some will go against you, it's just the way it is.' Although the France result felt like such a low point at the time, a couple of years afterwards, Ireland fans got to witness one of Dunne's highest rated performances on the international stage. In September 2011, Ireland visited Russia in a UEFA European Championship qualifier and never has a goalless draw been remembered like this one. Russia bombarded the Irish box with crosses and shots all game and were simply left stunned by how the ball never made it through to the back of the net. A major reason why it ended this way was Richard Dunne. Dunne's replacement shirt against Russia became iconic. Pic: David Maher / SPORTSFILE Dunne finished the match wearing an iconic blank jersey that had to have the number five drawn on it with marker after his original shirt was bloodied following one of his many challenges. He drew the 'Iron Curtain' across Ireland's goal and with the help of Shay Given, his defensive heroics earned an invaluable point that ultimately led Ireland to Euro 2012. When asked if he knew what an immense performance he was putting on at the time, Dunne remarked 'probably not' and added that while as a player you have a feeling if you're playing well, it was 'just a 0-0 draw in Russia' at the end of the day. He said: 'It was good and it's nice that it's something to be remembered by and I've obviously still got the scars from it. 'It's just of those things that follows you around I suppose.' Dunne's performance is remembered every year. Pic: INPHO/Donall Farmer One of the standout moments of the match was Dunne's unbelievable goal line clearance in the first half. Reflecting on it, he continued: 'It is funny, like every year it comes up and people show little clips of it. 'It's good to show my son and let him see it and stuff like that but sometimes it happens and you're just in the right place at the right time and it just happened on a couple of occasions that night. 'I think it's tough to really understand it. It's just one of those things that happened and you're really proud of it. 'It's just a nice memory to have.'
RTÉ News
3 hours ago
- RTÉ News
Crystal Black back in action for Ballyroan Stakes defence at Leopardstown
Gerard Keane hopes a successful defence of the Tote Ballyroan Stakes at Leopardstown on Thursday can open further doors for Crystal Black. The seven-year-old was unbeaten in all four starts last year, which saw the son of Teofilo triumph in the Duke of Edinburgh Stakes at Royal Ascot before impressively landing this race by five lengths for his maiden Pattern win. Crystal Black made a return to action in the Alleged Stakes in April, finishing seven lengths adrift of Galen in fourth to end his winning streak. He subsequently underwent a wind procedure and Keane is looking forward to his stable star kickstarting his 2025 campaign, as he lines up a tilt at the final Irish Classic of season next month. "He's coming along, he had a little bit of a hobday," Keane said. "So he's coming along well, we are happy with his work and as good as we can have him without a run. He's probably 90% so it's a nice little race to start him back with. As long as he runs a nice race, we'll be happy. "He's got an entry in the Leger, so that is the plan if we think he is good enough to run in that, but that's in a month's time. "That's the plan – Ballyroan, the Leger – and then after that we will see what's happening then." Six-time Irish champion jockey Colin Keane is aboard for his father in the Group Three contest over a mile and a half. Sons And Lovers goes for Joseph O'Brien, the Noel Meade-trained Group-winning Layfayette also starts and Jessica Harrington has entered Sea The Boss. Johnny Murtagh's Siege Of Troy and This Songisforyou, trained by Emmet Mullins, complete the six-runner line-up.
