A few actors from award-winning Cannes Film Festival projects — Anamaria Marinca (Cristian Mungiu’s 4 months, 3 weeks and 2 days) and Jean-Marc Barr (Lars Von Trier’s Europe) — have teamed up to star in a new film that marks an official collaboration between France and Ireland.
The project is White brother and marks the feature film debut of actor and filmmaker Ivan Murphy. Described as a romantic thriller, White brother is inspired by the life of Father Tom Murphy, an Irish Catholic priest who also served as a Wing Commander in the Royal Air Force during World War II and his relationship with Eva Hofer, a Hungarian Jew living in Vienna. According to the official synopsis, the film explores morality, sexuality and identity.
Jean-Marc Barr
Thanks to the subject
Ivan Murphy, who happens to be Father Tom Murphy’s second cousin, wrote the screenplay. He appeared in Cannes on Friday to sign the co-production agreement between France’s Valentina Films and Ireland’s Max Films at a special event at the Irish pavilion, hosted by Screen Ireland and the Center National du Cinema.
The project falls under a co-production agreement signed in Paris last December by Ireland’s ambassador to France, Niall Burgess, and France’s culture minister, Rima Abdul-Malak, according to an official press release issued Friday by the production partners. .
“This is a wonderful day for our film, White brother, and for our collaboration with Max Films in Ireland. The new co-production agreement between France and Ireland is a great opportunity for these two great film making and storytelling communities to work together,” said Valentina Films Director Xavier Castano, who will executive produce.
Ivan Murphy, right, poses with Xavier Castano at the Irish pavilion after signing the co-production deal at Cannes during the Film Festival on May 19, 2023.
Thanks to the subject
Max Brady of Dublin-based Max Films added: “It’s been a great experience working with Xavier and his team over the past year and we’re delighted to be one step closer to telling this amazing story .”
Murphy, who has previously loaned his talents to The darkness, said that now that the deal has been signed, the team is very much looking forward to pre-production. “I am very grateful to our incredible team behind and in front of the camera in Ireland and France for all their work over the years.”
Castano collaborated with Jean-Jacques Annaud on two of his films, Two brothers And wolf totem. Brady and his Max Films has the Paul Reiser starrer The problem with people on deck. Marinca recently starred in Goran Stolevski’s Critical Favorite You won’t be alone while Barr was recently seen in Aga Woszczynksa’s Quiet Country.
