Channel 4 Commissions Bobby Sands Story 'Hunger'

Channel 4 has commissioned Turner Prize-winning artist Steve McQueen’s first feature film, a highly evocative and impressionistic interpretation of the last six weeks in the life of Bobby Sands, leader of the 1981 IRA hunger strike at the notorious Maze prison.
'Hunger' directed by McQueen and co-written with the award-winning screenwriter and playwright Enda Walsh, stars Michael Fassbender. The film is being produced by Laura Hastings-Smith and Robin Gutch.
Jan Younghusband, Channel 4 Commissioning Editor for Arts said: "Channel 4 regularly commission new work from artists for the screen, galleries, public spaces and theatre. Steve McQueen is an exceptional artist and filmmaker whose work in galleries has transformed our experience of the visual arts. I am delighted to commission his first feature film which revisits, through the unique perspective of an artist, this crucial moment in Anglo-Irish history."
The film was picked up for international sales by Becker International and is being sold at the Cannes Film Festival.
Principal photography will start in September 2007 in Northern Ireland. Hunger will be shown on Channel 4 in 2008.
Hunger is a Blast! Films production for Film4 and Channel 4.
(DS)