EXCLUSIVE: Production is underway in Ballycastle in County Mayo in Ireland on Tony O’Donnell’s US-Ireland noir thriller, The Sandy Banks, starring Gary Lydon.
Preston Lee and Cole Webley are producing the film for the US’s Sanctuary Content. Their credits include Omaha, directed by Webley, which debuted in the US Dramatic Competition at Sundance 2025 and is being released by Greenwich Entertainment in the US on April 24.
Ireland’s Ruairdhri Hallinan of Red King Pictures is providing production services on the 22-day shoot of The Sandy Banks.
Susan Lynch, Pat Shortt, Brendan Conroy, David McSavage, Murray McArthur, Michael Hough, Eoin Geoghegan and John Quinn co-star in the film, which is set during Christmas in the remote west of Ireland.
The story sees the body of a woman discovered 16 years after her disappearance, reigniting tensions between neighbouring families and pushing her brother toward a reckoning.
It is the debut film of O’Donnell, who is from Ballycastle, and says the story is inspired by events from the surrounding rural community.
“Tony reached out over Instagram initially before the Galway Film Festival and shared his short Vanilla, which he had shot in Ballycastle ” said Lee. “The characters and dialogue really stood out. He then asked us to read his scripts and we did. Both Cole and I knew right away that he was a gifted writer. We bought The Sandy Banks that very week.”
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