The Mighty Celt DVD: Finally available in the USA!
Posted at 6:42 AM (PDT) on Friday, June 27, 2008

Cinequest Distribution is releasing The Mighty Celt which was filmed in Ireland and released in 2005. The DVD will be available on July 15, ten days before the July 25 opening of The X-Files: I Want to Believe.

For her role in this film, Gillian won the People's Choice Award at the Irish Film and Television Awards in 2005.

The director of The Mighty Celt, Pearse Elliott, said: "I'm absolutely delighted to hear Gillian Anderson has won the People's Choice Award for Pantene Best International Actress at this year's IFTAs. It was a pleasure working with Gillian and the award is thoroughly deserved.” (Regional Film & Video, 08.11.05)


Reviews:

"The story is so slender it almost crumbles between your fingers. The romance between Anderson’s single mum and Carlyle’s newly freed prisoner is made of sterner stuff, if only because they wear their unspoken grief like Marley’s chains. The winning ingredient is how these lonely adults square their differences for the sake of the young boy.

Who would have thought that the wellbeing of a dog would inspire the first example of Peace Process cinema? All credit to the exotic cast for trampling the issues that famous locals fear to tread. The accents are impeccable. Anderson is faultless as a bitter, loving mother. Carlyle is terrific as the wise lag, hailed as a hero for an act of terror he would rather forget." -- James Christopher, The Times Online


"The film essentially belongs to its actors and characterisations, with fine performances from Tyrone McKenna as Donal, Ken Stott as Joe and Robert Carlyle as O. But the shining light is Gillian Anderson, virtually unrecognisable as Belfast single mum Kate, all boobs, roll-up fags and high hair. Her short-vowelled, nasal accent is nothing short of the real thing.

Entirely shot on location, The Mighty Celt is a semi-autobiographical homage to Elliott's home town, drawing on his passion for breeding dogs and injected with his own take on post-conflict politics. It's a moving story of atonement, told through sensitive characterisation, and using paradox to underline Elliott's particular political bug-bears." -- Rebecca Kemp, Film Ireland