There was a full house and rapturous applause at the PÁLÁS Cinema on Friday night for the screening of survivalist thriller Jericho Ridge, which had its premiere as part of the 35th Galway Film Fleadh.
The film, from BAFTA award winning screenwriter Will Gilbey, premiered at the Galway City cinema on Saturday night.
Jericho Ridge is an action-packed thriller, set in a remote mountain town in North Washington state which has been ravaged by unemployment and drug addiction.
The survival thriller follows a small-town Deputy Sheriff Tabitha ‘Tabby’ Temple played by Nikki Amuka-Bird (The Outfit, Old, Luther) who is called back from injury leave to cover the dispatch radio for the night.
Alone in the station, Tabby witnesses a deadly gunfight break out between The Sheriff, the Chief Deputy and attackers via the police dash cams. A suspicious locksmith appears at the front door and is not who he says he is.
Tabby’s nightmare begins as the Sheriff’s Office is besieged by murderous attackers. Tabby repels the initial attacks, locks the doors and calls for backup…. but the closest State Police units are thirty minutes away.
Things become more complicated when her teenage son, Monty shows up to finish an argument which leaves Tabby to defend herself and her son. Isolated and outgunned, mother and son will have to do whatever it takes to survive.
Monty is played by Eastenders star Zack Morris who played Keegan Butcher-Baker in the hit soap opera which is widely watched in Ireland.
This is Zack Morris’s first entry to movie acting following his term with the long-running BBC drama.
This is also Will Gilbey’s debut feature film as a Writer Director and after the screening he, along with producers, Alex Tate, Mark O Sullivan, Harvey Ascott, Dublin based Director of Photography Ruairí O Brien and members of the cast took to the stage for a Q & A with a very engaged audience.
Irish Actor Aidan Kelly received a great reaction during the Q & A to his stories of filming his Jericho Ridge scenes in -12 temperatures in Kosovo.
Another Irish connection to Jericho Ridge is award-winning Director of Photography Ruairí O’Brien, from Dublin. A founding member of the Irish Society of Cinematographers, O’Brien is best known for his work on high-end television dramas such as Vigil, The Fall, and Line of Duty, to name a few.
“Jericho Ridge is a claustrophobic, action-packed thriller with a strong, three-dimensional female protagonist,” says Will Gilbey, Writer and Director of Jericho Ridge.
Thematically it’s a highly emotional story about parenthood, trust, isolation and our inability to communicate with the people we love the most. I’ve always loved contained thrillers.”
“We’ve thoroughly enjoyed our time at the 35th Galway Film Fleadh and for Jericho Ridge to be part of such a diverse and brilliant film programme amongst 6 European Premiers, 21 World Premiers, and 60 Irish Premiers!”
