Emerald City), IFTA-nominated Kathy Kiera Clarke (
Derry Girls) and John Connors (
Cardboard Gangsters), the semi-autobiographical story follows struggling writer Matt Donnelly (Duddy), who returns from New York to Northern Ireland for the first time in 25 years. Matt faces the ghosts of his past (Clarke); an abusive teacher, his dead mother, and his childhood best friend, who sacrificed an easier life to stay at home and fight during The Troubles. Newcomers Nicola Boyle, Johnny Mc Connell, and Brendan Broderick also star.
A Bend in the River is my attempt to finally come to terms with a childhood tainted by the residue of war, said Broderick. It is my love poem to Northern Ireland. The writer Matt Donnelly is the physical embodiment of the North of Ireland. He returns to confront the ghosts of his past: the violence, the confusion, the heartache. Like the place itself, he emerges from it all, reborn. Ultimately,