Project Detail

Five Minutes of Heaven

Synopsis

The past is never dead – in fact it isn’t even past.

Since the outbreak of Peace, Northern Ireland wrestles with the question of how to forgive the seemingly unforgivable.

Five Minutes of Heaven traces the lives of two Ulstermen; one a murderer, the other the brother of the man he killed. Since 1975 both men have lived in dread of encountering the other. One, Alistair (Neeson), feels he dare not ask forgiveness, the other, Joe (Nesbitt), feels incapable of giving it.

But when they do eventually meet, something extraordinary happens - something that will change their lives forever.

Details

Year
2009
Type of project
Features
Running time
90 mins
Format
35mm
Director
Oliver Hirschbiegel
Producer
Paul Trijbits
Co-Producer
Paul Trijbits
Editor
Hans Funck
Screenwriter
Guy Hibbert
Director of Photography
Ruari O' Brien
Production Designer
Mark Lowry
Principal cast
Liam Neeson, James Nesbitt, Anamaria Marcina

Genre

Categories

Production Status

Production Company

Big Fish Films

Ruby Films

26 Lloyd Baker St.
London WC1X 9AW
UK

Sales Company

Pathé International

Kent House
14-17 Market Place
London W1W 8AR
UK

T +44 (0)20 7323 5151

Page updates

This page was last updated on 12th May 2025. Please let us know if we need to make any amendments or request edit access by clicking below.

See also

You may also be interested in other relevant projects in the database.

Diana Diana

Director: Oliver Hirschbiegel

Year: 2013

Diana explores the last two years of Princess Diana's life; her campaign against land mines and her relationship with surgeon Dr Hasnat Khan.

A man in 1700s American attire is standing with one hand on a shovel, looking off into the distance. The Short Life of Jaxon Blume

Director: Oliver Walker

Year: 2026

Two brothers embark on the journey of a lifetime to see the ocean, all while being hunted down by a detective for a murder they may or may not have committed.

Lluest Lluest

Director: Gareth Bryn

Year: 2028

Eryri, North Wales, 1780. Maggie Jenkins has spent her life caring for her dying father in isolation. When he finally dies, she sees a chance to escape the life of duty that has defined her. But then her brother Endaf, long presumed dead, returns through the snow with a wounded Algerian soldier in tow. Welcomed home as a hero, Endaf soon reveals himself to be cold, controlling and dangerous. When the village takes Maggie’s home and inheritance from her and gives them to Endaf, she is pushed to the brink. Set against the brutal winter landscape of 18th-century North Wales, LLUEST is an elemental revenge drama about a woman forced to fight for her freedom — and what happens when she finally refuses to be silenced.