The mood was distinctly celebratory after the world premiere of John Boorman's The General in Cannes on Tuesday night - the first Irish feature to show in competition at Cannes since Cal 15 years ago. The black-tie screening was followed by a very enjoyable party hosted by the Irish Film Board and the film's international sales agents, J&M Entertainment, at Morrison's Public House off the Rue d'Antibes.
Black velvet flowed as freely as its two components, Guinness and champagne, until the early hours of Wednesday morning, with many revellers spilling onto the streets for some welcome fresh air. Glowing from the positive reaction to his movie, John Boorman was accompanied by his daughter, Katrine, and his son, Charley.
The star of the evening was Brendan Gleeson, who is firmly fancied for the best actor award in Cannes tomorrow night for his gritty portrayal of Martin Cahill. Urged on by his friends, the "Irish Depardieu", as he has been described, took to the stage and performed several numbers on the violin with the Irish trad band hired for the evening.
He was followed on stage by his co-star, Adrian Dunbar, who performed Me And Bobby McGee and afterwards revealed he is working on the screenplay for an Irish thriller to be titled Stations Of The Cross. The other principal male actor in the movie, Sean McGinley, was on a flying visit to Cannes, having been given a day off from shooting Simon Magus in Wales with fellow Irish actor Stuart Townsend.
A tiara-wearing Maria Doyle Kennedy, who plays Martin Cahill's wife in the movie, was still savouring the buzz of walking up the red-carpeted steps of the Festival Palais before facing into a 6.30 a.m. flight next morning - to Scotland, where she's working on Bill Forsyth's sequel, Gregory's 2 Girls. In Cannes, she was reunited with two of her colleagues from The Commitments, Angeline Ball, who plays her sister in The General, and Colm Meaney, who features in another Cannes competition entry, Claire Dolan.
Irish resident John Hurt, in Cannes with the movie, All The Little Animals, turned up at Morrison's, as did Men Behaving Badly star Neil Morrissey, and the handsome Jean-Marc Barr, who made St Ives (now titled All For Love) in Ireland last summer. The attendance included some of the key crew of The General, including brothers Seamus and Brendan Deasy and Derek Wallace, and Paul Williams, the journalist who wrote the book on which John Boorman based his film.
Joining the festivities were the Irish Film Board team of Rod Stoneman, Leslie Kelly and Paddy Hayes, along with distributor Hamish McAlpine, producers Katy McGuinness, James Flynn and Tristan Orpen Lynch, showbiz lawyer James Hickey, agent Teri Hayden, film censor Sheamus Smith, and playwright Hugh Leonard who fell victim to the notorious Cannes bureaucracy and failed to gain admission to the premiere even though he had a valid ticket.