When "Five Minutes of Heaven" started shooting in Northern Ireland last year, the filmmakers thought the Troubles were well behind them.
The sectarian conflict that had dogged the region appeared to have finished with the signing of the Bill Clinton-sponsored Good Friday agreement in 1998. But the killings in Northern Ireland a fortnight ago have changed all that.
"Five Minutes," which was made with the support of BBC Northern Ireland and the Irish Film Board, was conceived as a look back at the three decades of violence that tore apart the nationalist and loyalist communities.
Another film about the legacy of the Troubles, "Fifty Dead Men Walking," based on the memoir of informer Martin McGartland, is due to be released in the U.K. in April.The sensitivities that Troubles-related films can arouse are perfectly illustrated by the problems that have dogged both films. McGartland accused the filmmakers of factual inaccuracy by putting him "at the scene of torture and murders."
Nerves were not helped by pro-IRA comments made by thesp Rose McGowan at the film's Toronto premiere. In response, director Kari Skogland said: "Our goal was to present an even, nonjudgmental point of view so the audience could follow the path of an informer with empathy no matter what the politics."
As a result, the film now has a complicated disclaimer, saying it is "inspired by the real life story" of Martin McGartland.
Both films are based on real-life sources. "Five Minutes of Heaven," though scripted as fiction by Guy Hibbert, takes as its starting point the October 1975 murder in Lurgan, Co Armagh, of a 19-year-old Catholic by a 17-year-old member of Protestant paramilitary group the Ulster Volunteer Force.
"Fifty Dead Men Walking" is based on a book by McGartland, a Provisional IRA member who passed information to the U.K. police until he was exposed in 1991.
Both films aim to tackle the moral difficulties of being involved in brutal sectarian violence.
Both films were also part-funded by Northern Ireland Screen, the government agency for developing the film industry in this corner of the U.K. More than most similar orgs, NIS has to walk a tricky political line.
Moyra Lock, head of marketing, puts it plainly: "We are looking for talent; what they choose to write about, we don't mind."
The political calm of recent years also has underpinned another of NIS's core aims: to attract outside filmmakers and develop a sustainable industry in Northern Ireland.
"Let's be honest: because of our recent history, people could be a bit wary of visiting," Lock says. "But that's all changed: lots of people are coming in now. And because the industry here is so young, no one is jaded."
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