Bobby Sands: 66 Days

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Bobby Sands: 66 Days
Charles Moore
  • Richard English
  • Norman Tebbit
  • Tim Pat Coogan
  • Dessie Waterworth
  • Gerry Adams
    • Production
    companies
    Cyprus Avenue Films
    Fine Point Films
    Distributed byWildcard Distribution
    Release dates
    • 3 May 2016 (2016-05-03) (Hot Docs)
    • 5 August 2016 (2016-08-05)
    Running time
    		105 minutes
    CountryIreland
    LanguageEnglish

    Bobby Sands: 66 Days is a 2016 documentary film about Bobby Sands and the 1981 Irish hunger strike, which lasted for 66 days, from Northern Ireland.[1][2]

    Production

    The film mixes reenactment, animation, interviews and archive footage to relate the story of Bobby Sands and the 1981 Irish hunger strike, as well as covering the events leading up to the hunger strike and its complex legacy. Martin McCann reads several excerpts from Sands' own diary.

    Release

    Bobby Sands: 66 Days premiered at Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival in Toronto on 3 May 2016. It went on general release in Ireland on 5 August 2016, where it set a record for the highest-grossing opening weekend for an Irish documentary film (€50,933 or £43,300), and the second-highest for any documentary (behind Fahrenheit 9/11).[3]

    Reception

    The Irish Times awarded the film four stars out of five, calling it " a comprehensive, balanced, gripping tale of terrible times."[4] Empire said " Narratives of the

    Northern Irish Troubles are a nightmare of bias and bullshit — this superior doc does better than most in cutting through both."[5] As of 16 August 2019, the film had a 90% critics' rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a 71 ("generally favourable") on Metacritic.[6][7]

    Several

    unionist politicians criticised the fact that the film received funding from the state (via Northern Ireland Screen and the BBC).[8]

    Irish Times columnist Fintan O'Toole, describing his on-screen analysis as "insulting, completely off-the mark" and "deserving of derision."[9]

    References

    1. ^ "Bobby Sands: 66 Days". Galway Film Fleadh.
    2. ^ "Bobby Sands: 66 Days". Wildcard Distribution.
    3. ^ "Bobby Sands movie breaks Irish box office records (VIDEO)". irishcentral.com. 10 August 2016.
    4. ^ Clark, Donald (4 August 2016). "Bobby Sands: 66 Days review: A gripping tale of terrible times". The Irish Times.
    5. ^ Lowry, Andrew (2 August 2016). "Bobby Sands: 66 Days". Empire (magazine).
    6. ^ "Bobby Sands". rottentomatoes.com. Retrieved 5 August 2017.
    7. ^ "Bobby Sands: 66 Days" – via www.metacritic.com.
    8. Belfast Newsletter
      .
    9. ^ "'Bobby Sands: 66 Days' documentary – 'Powerful and emotionally charged,' says H-Blocks campaigner". An Phoblacht. 14 August 2016.

    External links


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