King of the Travellers – Irish Film New York

“King of the Travellers” is one of six films showing at Irish Film New York.

TICKETS: http://www.irishfilmnyc.com/tickets/

YEAR: 2012
RUNNING TIME: 78 minutes

King of the Travellers is a contemporary drama grounded in the traditions of the Irish traveller community and driven by emotive Shakespearean themes of love, betrayal, friendship and revenge. The protagonist of the film is John Paul Moorehouse, who has been raised for the past fifteen years by his uncle Francis after John’s father (Black Martin) was murdered. Francis has raised John like his own son and trained him to become a champion bare-knuckle boxer. John has often been used by Francis to settle disputes between various traveller families but the time has come where John is now becoming his own man. Tensions are already simmering between the two men, and John’s best friend, Mickey, is constantly antagonizing him to stand up to his uncle.

To make matters worse, a rival traveller family, the Powers, have recently moved back to the area. The Powers left after the death of Black Martin and John believes that they are responsible for his father’s death. Mickey encourages John to take revenge, who is reluctant to act and respectful of Francis’ pleas for him to stay as far away from the Powers as possible. As if things are not quite complicated enough for John, he ends up falling for Winnie Power, the daughter of the head of the Powers family.

To ensure authenticity in the film, travellers were cast to play the traveller roles, many of whom had never acted before. With a nod to the Sergio Leone and John Ford Westerns of the last century, King of the Travellers is an explosive contemporary take on traveller life.