A five week shoot starts this week in county Dublin onBrother Films' Studs, the feature filmdebut of playwright and theatre director Paul Mercier who has adapted his ownplay of the same title for the screen.

BrendanGleeson heads the cast as the mysterious, volatile and threatening soccertrainer who takes on a team of no-hopers. Lacing up their boots alongsideGleeson are Liam Carney, David Wilmot, Eamonn Owens, Tomas O Suilleabhain,Eanna MacLiam and David Herlihy.

Backing for the approximately Euros 1.1m budget projectcomes from the Irish Film Board's low budget initiative, TV3 and BVI (Ireland)who have pre-bought Irish theatrical and video/DVD rights.

BVI previously distributed Lipservice, Mercier's Irish language short film.Studs is produced by Fiach and CuanMacConghail.

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