The remake rights to the acclaimed Irish-language Famine drama Arracht have been optioned in the US.
Producer Greg Shapiro, whose credits include the Oscar-winning Zero Dark Thirty and The Hurt Locker, is among the filmmakers behind the remake deal.
Written and directed by Tom Sullivan, and starring Dónall Ó Héalai in the lead role, Arracht follows Colmán, "a fisherman, a father, a husband, living on the wild shores of Conamara in 1845 as The Great Hunger descends".
After a confrontation with his landlord, Colmán goes on the run.
"As the years pass in solitude, Colmán returns to the mainland and encounters a young girl, Kitty (Saise Ní Chuinn), and a life-saving friendship develops."
Arracht's producer Cúán MacConghail from production company Macalla Teoranta said of the US deal: "To have produced a film that moved Greg Shapiro and his team so much, that they wanted to option it is the stuff that dreams are made of. He has produced several of my top ten films of all time. Tom and I are so delighted."
Backed by Fís Éireann/Screen Ireland and TG4, Arracht is in cinemas from Friday, 15 October.
