“Beautiful, poetic. Town of Strangers leads us to reflect on ourselves, what it means to be an immigrant, how the passage of time makes us all strangers, somehow, in our own fleeting lives. The formal innovation and lyrical confection create a strange alchemy.”
“It is exactly what I hunger to watch. I LOVE her way of looking – the humanity! And humour and questions… Deep and gentle. Incisive and kind”
“A distinctive film that is both wonderfully offbeat and thoughtful”
“So many documentaries you see now are exploitative or sensationalist. Town of Strangers, on the other hand, was complex and unresolved, mysterious and restrained, just like most real people”
“A sensitive and engaging depiction of human connection, with all its fragilities, and, in doing so, beautifully reflects on contemporary rural Ireland.”
TOWN OF STRANGERS
82mins ‧ HDV ‧ Ireland ‧ 2018
There are only two stories: a person goes on a journey or a stranger comes to town.
A stranger arrives to a rural village and calls for auditions asking people to tell her ‘dreams, lies, memories and gossip’.
Together, they go on a cinematic journey to explore their waking and dreaming lives. Featuring a cast of migrant workers, hippies, Travellers, blow-ins and newly arrived refugees, we are ushered into the private worlds of people living between two cultures, sharing their desires of longing and belonging.
Writer & Director: Treasa O’Brien
Executive Producer: Joshua Oppenheimer (dir. The Act of Killing)
Producers: Martha O’Neill (Wildfire Films) & Treasa O’Brien (Stinging Hornet Films)
Cinematography: Gina Ferrer & Treasa O’Brien
Editor: Mirjam Strugalla
SCREENINGS:
The Whale Theatre, Wicklow 10 Sept 2020
Flying Broom Feminist Film Festival, Turkey 2020
Rejkavik Feminist Film Festival, Iceland 2020
Glór, Ennis, Co. Clare, 2019
Heart of Gort Festival, 2019
Docs Ireland Belfast 2019
Dingle Film Festival 2019
Cork Film Festival 2018
Galway Film Fleadh 2018
PRESS LINKS:
Greystones Guide, Interview with Director
Dublin Inquirer, review by Luke Maxwell
RTÉ Something for the Weekend, Alice Maher
‘Town of Strangers’ ‧ Treasa O’Brien ‧ 82mins ‧ HDV ‧ Ireland ‧ 2018
