Irish Film Institute -International Film Directory – Film Listing

Stella Days

    • Director

      Thaddeus O'Sullivan

    • Credits

      Producers: Lesley McKimm, Maggie Pope. Writer: Antoine O’Flatharta.

    • Principal Cast

      Martin Sheen, Stephen Rea, Amy Huberman, Marcella Plunkett, Tom Hickey

  • Category

    Feature

Working through themes of conservative religion clashing with modernisation, Stella Days sees progressively-thinking priest Father Barry (Martin Sheen) try to resolve a budget crisis by opening a cinema in his 1950s Tipperary parish. Working alongside schoolteacher Tim McCarthy (Trystan Gravelle), Father Barry plans to open ‘The Stella’, a cinema intended to bring modernity to a seemingly backwards town. Threatened by reactionary politician Brendan McSweeney (Stephen Rea) and domineering Bishop Hegarty (Tom Hickey), Barry finds his biggest problem to be the town’s own entrenched conservatism. Despite the weight of its themes Stella Days is a charming tale of a well-meaning and hard-working priest who goes against what is expected in trying to improve his parish for the community.

87 minutes, Ireland/Norway/Germany, 2011, Colour

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