Irish Film Hosting Gilligan Tribute

The Irish Film Institute will host a tribute to the late Irish cinematographer Donal Gilligan, with a rare screening of the powerful rural drama Country (2000) on May 30th at 6.10pm.
The film will be introduced by director Kevin Liddy, who will discuss his collaboration with Gilligan on a body of work that included the award-winning short films Horse (1993) and A Soldier's Song (1997).
Country, co-funded by the Irish Film Board and the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, won Best Film awards at the Galway Film Fleadh and the Verona International Film Festival in Italy. The cast list features Des Cave, Lisa Harrow, Dean Pritchard, Gary Lydon, Marcella Plunkett and Laurence Kinlan. According to Conor McPherson, the film features "some of the most beautifully lit cinematography ever produced in this country, rivalling the work of any of the world's greatest directors of photography".
Donal Gilligan began his career studying film and communications at DIT Rathmines. Later, as a founder member of FilmBase, he shot many high-profile shorts including Stephen (Johnny Gogan 1990), The Visit (Orla Walsh 1992), and After 68 (Stephen Burke 1994).
His feature Director of Photography debut came on Joe Comerford's High Boot Benny (1994). Gilligan went on to shoot a host of Irish and international features including Endgame (Conor McPherson 2000), Dead Bodies (Robert Quinn 2003), Omagh (Pete Travis 2004) and Time of the Comet (Fatmir Koçi 2008). His TV credits include Black Wind White Land (Gerry Hoban 1993), John McGahern: A Private World (Pat Collins 2005) and Love/Hate (David Caffrey 2010).
(BMcC/GK)