John Michael McDonagh wrote and directed The Guard which was nominated for a BAFTA, and replaced this film as the most successful independent Irish film of all time?
The Guard (2011 film) The Guard is a 2011 Irish buddy cop comedy film written and directed by John Michael McDonagh, starring Brendan Gleeson, Don Cheadle, Mark Strong and Liam Cunningham. It is the most successful independent Irish film of all time in terms of Irish box-office receipts, overtaking "The Wind that Shakes the Barley" (2006), which previously held this status.
This Is the Sea (film) This Is the Sea is an Irish film, released in 1997, directed and written by Mary McGuckian and produced by Michael Garland. It is a romance film, focusing on the relationship between the character Hazel Stokes, played by Samantha Morton, and Malachy McAliskey, played by Ross McDade. The two lovers live in Northern Ireland. Stokes is a Protestant, while McAliskey is Catholic. Their relationship is complicated by the spying of Stokes' brother Jef, played by Marc O'Shea, and by the attempts of Rohan, played by Gabriel Byrne, to recruit McAliskey into the Republican movement. The film also stars Richard Harris as Old Man Jacobs, an ally to the couple.