EXCLUSIVE: Irish filmmaker Tristan Heanue’s feature debut Landlines is now shooting in Connemara, County Galway, with a cast headed by Dónall Ó Héalaí and Moe Dunford.
The rural drama explores family, inheritance and the devastating consequences of broken promises.
Arracht actor and Screen Star of Tomorrow 2020 Ó Héalaí plays James, who has spent his life working the family farm, on the promise that one day it would be his. But after the sudden death of his father, ownership of the land falls to his mother, who decides to split the farm between James and his estranged brother, played by Baite star Dunford.
Olwen Fouéré and Danielle Galligan co-star.
The Ireland-UK-Belgium co-production is produced by Peadar King and Screen Star of Tomorrow 2023 Claire McCabe for Galway-based Black Gate Productions, in partnership with Screen Rising Star Ireland 2023 Collie McCarthy and Diarmuid Hughes for Ireland-UK Forty Foot Pictures and Beata Saboova and Benoit Roland for Belgium’s Wrong Men Films.
The executive producer is Eamon Day Lavelle for Black Gate Productions.
Break Out Pictures will distribute Landlines in Ireland and the UK, with a theatrical release planned for 2027.
The film is supported by Screen Ireland, TPC and The Post Republic UK.
Connemara filmmaker Heanue’s credits include shorts Today, Harvest and Cork International Film Festival Grand Prix winner Ciúnas (Silence).
“Over the years, I’ve heard so many stories about inheritance disputes that began with a misunderstanding or a lack of communication and ended with families never speaking again—or worse,” said Heanue.
“What fascinated me was how quickly land could become more important than the people fighting over it, and what people were willing to do to hold onto it. From the outset, I wanted to tell a story that explores that journey, while offering the possibility that compassion, rather than violence, can break the cycle.”
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