ONCE Wins The World Cinema Audience Award For Dramatic Film at the SUNDANCE FESTIVAL

It’s been many years since Glen Hansard of Irish band the Frames last appeared in a movie. That movie was THE COMMITMENTS where he played the role of the band’s guitarist. The film has become something of a classic not least for its beguiling mix of great music and hilarious comedy. Last year Hansard was selected as our artist of the year for his recorded and live musical contribution in a highly competitive 2006. Little did we know that he had also played a leading role in movie that was destined to win the hearts of Sundance Film Festival audiences. Further, that his co-star would be his collaborator from the album that topped our list of best albums of 2006, Marketa Irglova.

The classic first, small indie movie ONCE was directed and written by John Carney. I suspect that Hansard had a hand in writing the screenplay about a Dublin busker (Hansard) meeting and falling in love with a Czech Republic street seller and classically-trained pianist (Irglova). The movie features songs from his solo collaboration with Irglova (THE SWELL SEASON), including ‘Falling Slowly’ and ‘When Your Mind’s Made Up’ which also appear on the Frames latest album (THE COST). The band also appears in the movie. Three other songs from the collaborative album also feature. THE SWELL SEASON (reviewed exclusively on Shakenstir) will receive its full UK release on March 19th via the Anti label.

Last week the movie grew in popularity at the festival to become the “little indie film that could … ” and it’s underdog status rose with each passing day. A distribution deal is in the works with a probable release in USA theaters in the Fall and a soundtrack release is also planned.

Here’s a couple of USA reviews of the movie:

Film critic Michael Phillips calls it the “Best Musical of a Generation” and also compares it to one of the greatest concert films ever, The Talking Heads’ STOP MAKING SENSE.

From Salon.com Friday, January 26, 2007

Beyond the Multiplex

By Andrew O’Hehir

“During my last hours in Park City, I resisted sleep and crept into a late-night screening of “ONCE,” a lovely musical romance from Irish writer-director John Carney that might be this festival’s ultimate sleeper hit. A heartbroken Dublin street musician (played by Glen Hansard, of the Irish band the Frames), who busks for shoppers all day but sings his original folk-rock material at night, meets a classically trained Czech pianist (Markéta Irglová) who’s now selling flowers.”

“They fit together wonderfully, both as musicians and as guy ‘n’ gal, but there remains a slightly mysterious distance between them. His songs are all written to a missing girlfriend, and she has a 2-year-old daughter whose dad is still in the Czech Republic . They drift through Dublin, separately and together, in a mellow haze of music and infatuation. But Carney has measured the bitter and the sweet in precise proportions in “ONCE“; this is a romance for everyone who has ever fallen in love when you weren’t really free to do so. A wistful and delightful little film, just the thing to send me on a jet plane homeward with an Irish song in my heart.”

For information and to watch the movie trailer:

http://www.myspace.com/oncethemovie

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=utl7TgsUOH4&eurl =

Sundance’s press release announcing the winners:

http://festival.sundance.org/2007/winners

2007_Sundance_Film_Festival_Announces_Jury_and_Audience_Awards.pdf

More press on the movie:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/movies/chi-0701280275jan28,1,1284313.story?coll=chi-ent_movies-hed

http://www.laweekly.com/film+tv/film/once-in-a-sundance/15448/

http://www.villagevoice.com/film/0704,foundas,75618,20.html