Award-winning Finnish director Klaus Harro’s English-language feature debut My Sailor, My Love - has completed its shoot this week in Achill.
It is produced by Kai Nordberg and Kaarle Aho for Making Movies Oy (Finland ) and by David Collins for Samson Films (Ireland ) with support from the Finnish Film Foundation, Fis Eireann/Screen Ireland and the WRAP Fund (an initiative of the Western Development Commission ) - among others. The original screenplay is written by Jimmy Karlsson and Kirsi Vikman.
My Sailor, My Love tells the story of Howard, an aging widower who falls in love with his home aide, despite his daughter, Grace, not approving of the relationship.
Post-production is taking place in Belgium and Finland during the first half of 2022 with delivery scheduled for mid-summer 2022.
The cast includes James Cosmo (Braveheart, Game of Thrones ), Brid Brennan (Dancing at Lughnasa, Brooklyn ), Catherine Walker (A Dark Song, The Delinquent Season ) and Nora-Jane Noone (The Magdalene Sisters, Wildfire ).
Pre-production in Mayo took place over eight weeks from mid-July to mid-September with principal photography mainly on Achill Island, for a further six weeks until October 23.
Just over half of the cast and crew, totalling 85, are based in the West of Ireland. In addition, 150 local extras were engaged during the shoot. Approximately 3,500 bed nights were generated in Achill over the course of the production.
Producer Kai Nordberg says: "It is important that small European countries can join their resources to create high-end content for the world market. My Sailor, My Love is very much taking the best out of both countries to make a great film.”
Producer David Collins commented: "Through collaborating with Making Movies Oy, we are very proud and happy at the creative and financial contribution we have been able to make to help Klaus realise his very special vision for this film. Working closely with a terrific cast and crew in Achill and Mayo over the last few months has been a great experience for all of us at Samson."
