Love in Kilnerry

Love in Kilnerry
Official Movie Poster
Directed by	Daniel Keith
Written by	Daniel Keith
Produced by	Daniel Keith, Courtney Bissonette, Mary Dougherty
Starring	Daniel Keith, Kathy Searle, Roger Hendricks Simon, James Patrick Nelson, Sybil Lines, Sheila Stasack, Tony Triano
Cinematography	J. Eric Camp, Jon Mercer
Edited by	John Wilson
Music by	Randy Edelman
Production company	Archway Pictures[1]
Distributed by	Mutiny Pictures (North American region),[2] Archway Pictures (Theatrical)
Release date	April 22, 2022 (2022-04-22)
Running time	105 minutes[3]
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$1.2 million[4]

Love in Kilnerry is an upcoming American romance comedy film written, produced, and directed by Daniel Keith in his directorial debut. The film stars Keith, Kathy Searle, Roger Hendricks Simon, James Patrick Nelson, Sybil Lines, Sheila Stasack, and Tony Triano.^[1][5][4][6] The first draft edit of the film premiered in the US on October 18, 2019 at the New Hampshire Film Festival and the San Diego International Film Festival simultaneously.^[7] The film went through two more years of edits and reshoots before being completed in 2021. Mutiny Pictures released the film theatrically in North America on April 22, 2022.

The comedy's narrative is focused on the fictional town of Kilnerry, New Hampshire, whose residents panic after the Environmental Protection Agency informs them that mandatory changes to their chemical plant could dramatically increase their sexual libido. Love in Kilnerry and Keith received critical acclaim^[5] and forty-five film festival awards and twenty-six nominations for Best Screenplay, Best Director, Best Film, Best Actors, Best Cinematography, and Best Ensemble.^[8]

Plot[]

The small sleepy remote town of Kilnerry struggles as most of the residents are elderly and the younger ones will be going off to college soon. When a representative from the EPA visits the town’s quarterly townhall meeting to tell them their chemical plant has been polluting the waters and creating toxic fish, they learn a new mandatory process, called P172, must be adapted by the plant. However, there is one small side effect. When exposed to P172, laboratory rats have shown a dramatic increase in sexual libido. The residents panic and chaos ensues. The sheriff struggles to maintain order over the following months as chaos and mayhem ensue; a catastrophic orgy attempt, indecent exposure, the priest becomes a nudist to be closer to God, and some of the more decrepit residents compete in a dance competition with a risqué performance. Just as the sheriff has reached his breaking point in an effort to control everyone and keep the town from changing, the EPA returns to inform them that they discovered the rats had been used in a previous pheromone test and that P172 has no side effects. Plagued with guilt, they realize that by thinking they had no control, they learned to open up, accept others, throw caution to the wind and live again, and fall in love. The sheriff is faced with his actions and apologizes to the town. The residents go on to embrace a new life and create new destinies.^[1]

Cast[]

Production and distribution[]

Development[]

Love in Kilnerry was originally a play, written by Keith, that takes place in the fictional town of Kilnerry in County Donegal. It was a challenge presented to him by Royal Shakespeare Company alumnus, (Marion) Sybil Lines (who also plays Aednat McLaughlin). Keith wanted to write something that would make his grandmother laugh. He used the pen name, Colin Filmore, so the actors could approach the material more honestly as to not be intimidated by the writer present.^[9][10] The play was workshopped in front of audiences at Manhattan Theater Club Studios in New York City for most of 2016. It wasn't until 2017, when Keith wrote the story as a screenplay, that the cast learned who the real writer was. Daniel travelers up and down the east coast looking at dozens of small towns until he found a postcard of Portsmouth. Upon visiting the small seaside town, Daniel knew he had found his 'Kilnerry'.^[10] Daniel, Roger Hendricks Simon, Sybil Lines, and Sheila Stasack, who had workshopped the play in 2016 continued on to the film. Kathy Searle, Tony Triano, Debargo Sanyal, Jeremy Fernandez, and James Patrick Nelson were cast by Kimberly Graham (Homeland).^[11] Daniel requested all theater actors since he wanted the film to have a theater-esque and storybook look and feel about it. Everyone also had a great deal of training and shared the same dialog and methods for discovering their characters and analyzing the script.

Filming[]

Sybil Lines (Aednat) and Roger Hendricks Simon (Fergal)

'Love in Kilnerry' screenshot

Daniel knew he wanted a storybook town that was cut off from the rest of the world, so he reached out to visual effects artist, Brian Demetz (Deadpool, 2012) to create mountains around the town and erase anything modern (ie no jeans, construction, tattoos, iPhones, new cars, etc). The establishing and drone shots were the first to be filmed.^[9][10] Many of the residents of Portsmouth became the residents of Kilnerry, as well as brought the members of the production food, helped them find locations, and even housed many of them. A cast and crew of 200 people filmed in 28 locations.^[10][12][13] The Irish Post caught wind of Keith's film and released a story on December 15, 2017, about the Irish town of Ringaskiddy in County Cork, whose residents were complaining about the fumes of the local Pfizer plant, that made Viagra, and was causing the men and dogs to walk around sexually excited. The article claimed that 'art was imitating life'.^[14]

Post-production[]

Post-production spanned throughout 2018 as Keith sought Jon Wilson (Downton Abbey, Billy Elliot) to edit the film at Pinewood Studios in London, the music was written and performed by the score composer Randy Edelman (Last of the Mohicans, 27 Dresses), visual FX were created by Brian DeMetz (Deadpool, 2012), and colored by Andrew Geary at Company 3 (A Star Is Born, Star Wars). Early edits of the film were shown to audiences at film festivals throughout 2019 as peer reviews. The film, its crews, and actors garnered forty-five awards and twenty-six nominations internationally. Tania Fisher wrote "The only explanation that can be given to the deeply felt emotions from people who are somehow relating to an incredibly unlikely scenario is that Daniel has the power and skill to zero-in on human fears and relationships."^[11]

Distribution[]

Cast of 'Love in Kilnerry" sign N. American distribution deal with Mutiny Pictures.

The global COVID-19 pandemic halted the industry in April 2020 and it wasn't until July 2021 that Mutiny Pictures acquired North American distribution rights with the intention of putting the movie in theaters nationwide in early 2022.^[15] In 2022, Daniel Keith was granted the coveted p.g.a. mark from the Producer's Guild of America to be used in the film credits for his extensive work as one of the film's producers. His company, Archway Pictures, then teamed up with Mutiny Pictures to expand the theatrical release nationally.

Accolades[]

Roger Hendricks Simon, Daniel Keith, Sybil Lines, Sheila Stasack - New Hampshire Film festival 2019

Note: These accolades were awarded to early edits of the film.

References[]

External links[]

• Official website
• Love in Kilnerry at IMDb