I Could Read the Sky
Synopsis
I Could Read the Sky is adapted from the photographic novel of the same name which has been recently published to rave reviews and explores the sense of identity, loss and exile. It is the moving story of an old man living in a bedsit in London, remembering his life, growing up on the West coast of Ireland and his journey to London.
The film unravels the strange twisting drama of a working man's life. It moves from a decaying rural past to a vividly modern present, driven by a dynamic music soundtrack that draws from both, and a simple flowing lyrical story telling. It is the state of memory that the film evokes, not memory as re-enactment but as texture. The film gets to the essence of how we remember. Memory as fragments, as details and layers, memory that comes at you out of the dark. From behind closed eyes, with its abstractions of light and form and sudden moments of precise clarity, taking us on an inward, visually extraordinary labyrinthine journey to the film's end.
The film stars the acclaimed Irish writer Dermot Healy and includes cameos from actors Maria Doyle Kennedy, Brendan Coyle and Stephen Rea, writer Pat McCabe (Butcher Boy) and the author Timothy O'Grady and photographer Steve Pyke.
Details
- Year
- 2000
- Type of film
- Features
- Running time
- 86 mins
- Format
- 35mm Kodak
- Director
-
Nichola Bruce
- Producer
- Paulo Branco, Ben Gibson, Roger Shannon, Rod Stoneman
- Editor
- Catherine Creed
- Director of Photography
- Seamus McGarvey BSC, Owen McPolin
- Sound
- Cameron Hills, Dan Birch
- Music
- Iarla O'Lionáird, Featuring tracks by Sinead O'Connor, Martin Hayes, Liam O'Maonlai
- Principal cast
- Dermot Healy
- Executive Screen Writers
- Nichola Bruce
Categories
Production Status
Production Company
Hot Property Films Ltd Contact: Janine Marmot 27 Newman Street London W1P 8PE Tel: 020 7323 9466 Fax: 020 7323 9467 janine.hotproperty@virgin.net
Sales Company
Gemini Films Contact: Licia Eminenti 34 Boulevard Sebastopol 75004 Paris, France Tel: 00 33 1 44 541717 Fax: 0033 1 44 549666 gemini@easynet.fr
Page updates
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See also
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The Romance of Bricks
Director: Nichola Bruce
Year: 2020
Through her archive diary filmmaker Nichola Bruce takes us on a journey <br /> into the life of Lancashire artist and vicar's daughter Liz Finch. From her life changing accident and rural solitude, to the mad social whirl of 80s London anarchic performances and now the present day- an intriguing glimpse into a recluse's private world.
Gifts
Director: Nichola Bruce
Year: 2016
The idea for the film originated from the eight objects that were traditionally given in England to welcome a new child into the world; Egg, Coal, Evergreen, Salt, Candle, Bread, Coin and Silver Ring. Each symbolic gift has been the theme of a public event, created by artist Clare Whistler, in collaboration with leading artists, musicians, poets and documented from 2005-2015 by established filmmakers. <br /> 'Gifts' is an interpretation of the eight events, directed by Nichola Bruce. The film brings together English traditions of ritual and landscape.<br /> Financed by the gift economy movement and Arts Council England.