FOLLOWING the screening of his second film Glassland in Brixton's Ritzy Cinema this week, Irish director Gerard Barrett announced he is to work on a film set "in the Famine period”.
The Co. Kerry-born director is no stranger to projects depicting the bleaker side of Irish life, having won the Rising Star gong at the Irish Film and Television Academy Awards in 2013 for his debut feature Pilgrim Hill.
Set in rural Ireland, that film told the story of a farmer and his relationship with his critically ill father.
His follow up, Glassland, released April 17, depicts the struggle of an Irish family coping with the collateral damage of alcoholism.
News of Barrett's Famine intentions follows a resurgence of interest in the period, most notably since Channel 4's controversial decision to look at developing a sitcom script based on the Famine.
Although unable to give more details on the project, claiming he "can't say too much" during a Q&A session following this week's Glassland screening in London, if his last two releases are anything to go by, it is unlikely that Barrett will shy away from portraying the deprivation of the period in all its horror.
Barettt also spoke about his next project, a movie called Brain on Fire.
