Ten years ago, on a drizzly Thursday evening during the much-loved Galway Film Fleadh, Element Pictures’ Ed Guiney and Andrew Lowe were standing outside of the Eyre Square Hotel when Guiney received an email with the initial pre-booking numbers for their upcoming title The Guard.
The figures were, thankfully, “through the roof” and it marked a key turning point for the Irish production, distribution and (soon to be) exhibition outfit.The Irish buddy cop comedy, starring Brendan Gleeson and written and directed by John Michael McDonagh took $7.4M in the UK and Ireland (and nearly $20M worldwide) making it the biggest independent Irish film at the time, a huge feat especially considering Ireland was going through an economic crash.
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