Northern Irish Film Wins Sundance

The Northern Ireland drama “Five Minutes of Heaven” gets nods at Sundance…

The Nothern Ireland drama, “Five Minutes of Heaven” received two major awards on Saturday night at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah.


“Downfall” director Oliver Hirschbiegel was given the festival’s World Cinema award for best director for the film, which took a second prize for its screenwriter, Guy Hibbert.


The film tells the story of Alistair Little, a young UVF member who spent 13 years in prison for the murder of Jim Griffin, a 19-year-old Catholic, in Lurgan in 1975. The victim’s 11-year-old brother Joe was a witness. Most of the drama takes place during an attempted reconciliation 33 years after the killing. Liam Neeson, who is from Ballymena, plays Alistair Little as an adult, with Coleraine native James Nesbitt as the grown-up Joe Griffin.


The film is expected to be released in Ireland this March.