Women of the midlands prove their pulling power

His & Herscontinues to break records. In the past few days, Ken Wardrop's documentary passed the €300,000 point at the Irish box office, making it the most successful documentary here since Michael Moore's Fahrenheit's 9/11in 2004. His & Hershas now taken more money than Irish hits such as Neil Jordan's Ondineand John Carney's Once.

The picture is, moreover, the most lucrative film yet screened at Dublin's Light House Cinema. Beginning with an impressive €40,000 opening weekend, His & Hershas demonstrated that strong word-of-mouth and positive reviews can still, in the age of hype overdrive, propel an indie film towards unexpected riches.

Audrey Sheils of Element Pictures, the film’s distributors, commented: “Opening on just eight prints, we hoped for success, but nothing could have prepared us for what it has achieved. We never thought we’d still be in cinemas 12 weeks after release, and are delighted to have been part of the journey with Ken Wardrop and [producer] Andrew Freedman.”

Mention should also be made of the sterling work done by Access Cinema. That commendable body, devoted to regional distribution, ensured that His & Hersgot to parts of the country previously untouched by independent or art-house movies. Given the film's anchoring in the midlands, it was vital that it also be shown outside urban centres.