Ireland’s Oscar Contender ‘The Quiet Girl’ Crosses Box Office Landmark

Naman Ramachandran
·2 min read

After 22 weeks in cinemas across Ireland and the U.K., writer-director Colm Bairéad’s “An Cailín Ciúin” (“The Quiet Girl”) has crossed €1 million ($971,000) at the box office. The film is Ireland’s entry in the Oscars’ international feature category.

Based on Irish author Claire Keegan’s story “Foster,” the coming-of-age film, set in rural Ireland in 1981, follows Cáit (Catherine Clinch) as she is sent from her overcrowded, dysfunctional household to live with distant relatives for the summer.

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It has been an unstoppable force on the festival and awards circuit, winning top prizes at the Berlin, Dublin and Taipei film festivals and sweeping the Irish Film and Television Awards. Produced by Cleona Ní Chrualaoi for Inscéal, the film is distributed by Break Out Pictures and Curzon.

Nell Roddy and Robert McCann Finn, joint MDs of Break Out Pictures, said: “It’s a fantastic result and we’re thrilled that audiences in Ireland and the U.K. have embraced the film as much as we did. It’s a phenomenal achievement for any film to cross the €1 million mark, but especially now given the increasingly difficult market.”

Louisa Dent, MD of Curzon, said: “Passing €1 million at the Irish and U.K. box office is a remarkable achievement. It has been wonderful to see ‘The Quiet Girl’ connecting with audiences in such a deeply emotional way.”

Bairéad and Ní Chrualaoi added: “We are truly humbled by the manner in which audiences in Ireland and the U.K. have embraced our film. To every single person who bought a ticket for ‘The Quiet Girl’ and who championed the film since its release in May, we say thank you from the bottom of our hearts.”

The film was made as part of the Cine4 funding scheme for Irish-language films in partnership with Screen Ireland, TG4, and the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland. The film is also in receipt of the Irish Government’s Section 481 tax incentive.

Désirée Finnegan, chief executive, Screen Ireland, said: “Seeing the impact the film has had on audiences from every generation has been truly moving, and we believe a watershed moment for Irish-language cinema, which has been redefined by the incredible output from the Cine4 scheme in recent years. In the middle of an intensely difficult time for cinemas and the cinema-going experience, an Irish-language film broke domestic box office records and told a beautiful story about childhood, connection and the power of care.”

Bankside Films handles international sales.

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