A Green Eye Production and Campbell Ryan Production

The Award Winning Crooked Mile Feature Film (Tribeca Award) New York 2001 – A Stephen Kane Film produced by Julie Daly-Wallman, Avril Ryan and Triona Campbell

The first Jersey / Ireland Co-Production Feature Film “The Crooked Mile”

The Crooked Mile has recently won the Tribeca Entertainment First Look Award. The honour was bestowed by the pre-eminent Tribeca Film Centre, founded by superstar Robert de Niro and The Crooked Mile Feature Film is the first non-US feature to ever receive this award.

The Crooked Mile is a coming of age road movie, a gentle insistent contemporary fairy tale about the journey’s of Anna, a nine year old ‘adult’ and Elliot, a twenty-something medical school drop out, and their search for a fifties movie icon in Tramore.

First time feature director Stephen Kane directs a cast comprised of some of Ireland’s hottest young stars. Introducing Dayna McKiernan as Anna – a streetwise outgoing kid. Alan Smith who plays Elliot (burdened with Anna), and Clelia Murphy as Jane, Anna’s somewhat distracted mother. Pat Mc Grath also features as Anna’s distant dad in this sweet and cosmic exploration of relationships based around a trek from Dublin to Tramore.

Elliot’s reluctance to the journey is superbly contrasted to Anna’s wistfulness and enthusiasm. This captivating story intertwines nostalgia with a search for something that only ever existed in Anna’s mind and hopes.

The screenplay is written by Stephen Kane.

Executive Producer for the Irish Film Board is Rod Stoneman.

The Executive Producer in Jersey is Julie Daly-Wallman

The Producer’s are Julie Daly-Wallman, Avril Ryan and Triona Campbell.

About the story…

It is the mid eighties and Ireland is in a love affair with all things American. Nine year-old Anna (Dayna Mckiernan) is a streetwise outgoing kid who has had the harsh responsibility of having to look after her immature diabetic mother, Jane (Celia Murphy), foisted on her since she was an urchin. They are moving again into yet another grimy Dublin flat. For Anna the only consistency in her ever-changing environment is a postcard of James Dean. “Mam never told me what me daddy’s name was, but she always kept a picture of him on our bedroom wall”. 

Elliot (Alan Smyth) is Anna and Jane’s new neighbour, a twenty-something medical school dropout who has never had to make a decision for himself or anyone else. Having rebelled against his sheltered privileged background and his doctor father, he is in limbo as to what to do with his life. Scared of being taken into care when Jane is hospitalised for a week, Anna improvises that Elliot is her father, and, Elliot furiously agrees to mind her. Feeling unwanted, Anna decides the only person who might care for her is her father (Pat McGrath) who she has never met. 

After packing, which includes bringing the Goldfish, Anna and Elliot begin to hitch south through Ireland; Anna on a journey to find her father who she thinks is James Dean, Elliot believing that he is bringing Anna to her uncle.

About the Production…

The mid 1980’s setting of The Crooked Mile places its lead characters in a time of heavy dominance by American influences on Irish culture and identity. Ireland was in the middle of a lover affair with American 50’s culture. The Crooked Mile captures the unique feeling of that time as it explores themes that are both universal and timeless.

“This feature is about Anna a child who has to become an adult because of her immature mother Jane”, says writer director Stephen Kane. “For me there is also a further conflict in their backgrounds, Anna, is a street wise kid, Elliot, a drifter from a middle class background. In my mind I’ve always seen Anna’s journey as a reverse mirror of Elliots. It is a lyrical road movie and as the journey progresses Anna learns to trust Elliot and enjoy aspects of her childhood, while for Elliot’s character he learns not only to at last take responsibility for himself but also for someone else”.