Bertie Brosnan's CON takes pride of place at this years Kerry Film Festival!

This Sunday October 21st sees film maker Bertie Brosnan's film CON hit the big screens at Killarney Cinema as part of the final day programme of the 19th Kerry Film Festival and sees the Tralee native's first feature get the mass audience it deserves in his home county at an award winning film festival.


Bertie Brosnan (CON, SINEATER, JACOB WRESTLING WITH THE ANGEL, LAST SERVICE) began his film education back in March 2013 when his worldwide distributed short film, Jacob,Wrestling With The Angel started shooting in the North County Dublin area. His film-school and trade in writing, producing and directing film was now well underway.
Little did he know that in just over three years he would commence production on his debut feature
film. In those three years, Bertie produced three more artistic short films, several online videos including commercials, video shorts and documentaries. Receiving many Official Selections for international film festivals, nominations, and an award for his second short film Sineater Bertie's work was creating a wave of interest and admiration from critics, audiences and the Arts Council, who would award him twice for his work in film production proving that Bertie's film education was proving to be fruitful and worthwhile. His deeply personal films such as Jacob, Wrestling With The Angel,Sineater, Forgotten Paradise and Last Service deal with broad universal themes through his own unique narratives and cinematic style with Mark Zioboro (themoviebuff.net) stating that "Brosnan has presented a series of films that do what independent films do best – they make us think, they make us feel, they make us question. During some moments you’re perplexed, during others intrigued, and during others still, truly moved. With Bertie's endeavours in short-film making proving successful it was now time to think about a feature (full-length) movie. Having already succeeded in creating a very stylistic short film, Sineater, that was shot in Tralee, County Kerry, Brosnan felt that shooting a feature in Kerry could prove fruitful again and he wasn't mistaken. Bertie was coming home to his native Tralee to shoot his then newly penned script, CON which is a mockumentary style film,and he felt after shooting in his much-loved county of Kerry that he would find that more doors open and people would be inclined to help out and he wasn't mistaken. Bertie felt strongly that his film education had brought him to this point... shooting what  and where you know!
As a result, three years later after the filming of Jacob came the production of Con in his homeland of Tralee. Filming and post-production proved to be a huge success. The whole production from idea to screen cost the paltry sum of 7,000 euro - which is a catering budget on small indies that are filmed across the world. Bertie had a great crew, cast, family, and friends to thank and of course his investor and backers through Indiegogo, without them which nothing would have happened! Distribution was slow, and unfortunately, money had wholly dried up, and other promises were made and not kept, so the premiere was a long time coming! Con, as an unfinished film was warmly received in an advanced screening in the Siamsa Tire in late 2016 and there was a huge Q&A on the night. Bertie always felt that the native audience in Kerry can fully appreciate the nuances and story as a whole. Audiences will hopefully see more screenings after Kerry Film Festival, which is something Brosnan and his team are working strongly on – please like their facebook page to keep up to date with showings: So for now, the journey has come full circle. Con is Bertie Brosnan's Graduation from a short film filmmaker to a feature film producer. Not only did he write the screenplay but produced, directed and acted in the film also and the reviews have been smashing..."This is the magic of Brosnan’s project, whose primary themes ultimately focus on the culture of celebrity and the potency of addiction by immersing us into the rehabbed existence of a famous star on the mend physically, spiritually, and mentally." - Kirk Fernwood (OneFilmFan.com) Con will screen on October 21st at 7 pm at Kerry Film Festival as apart of the fantastic line-up of Kerry Made films! Bertie with some cast and crew will attend on the night and will be staying around after the screening, so, make sure you go up and say Hello!