'Hunger' Wins Big At Cannes

A film about an IRA hunger strike in Belfast's H-Blocks has won an international award.

'Hunger', which focuses on the protest in 1981, received the Camera d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival. 'Hunger' was co-written by Irish playwright Enda Walsh and co-funded by Northern Ireland Screen and the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland.

Director Bruno Dumont, President of the Caméra d'Or Jury, along with Dennis Hopper, awarded the Caméra d'Or to 'Hunger' by Steve McQueen presented in Un Certain Regard.

Mr. McQueen responded, "I want to say thank you to the Jury and to the decision-making, and also, it's one of my great pleasures to receive this from one of my personal heroes, Dennis Hopper. He's a man who takes chances and I respect that very much.

"My film Hunger was about the troubles in Northern Ireland during the 1981 hunger strikes.

"Within the prison, there were prison officers who I identify with and protestors who I identify with. The film is about people in a situation and what these people do. Thank you very much."

Irish Arts Minister Martin Cullen has congratulated everyone connected with the film. "Following the success of 'The Wind that Shakes the Barley' and 'Garage', this Camera D'Or will keep Irish film practitioners in the world's eye for the foreseeable future," he said. "This film covers a very turbulent part of our history with an unadorned reality and reminds us of how far we have come as an island in the last quarter century."