''H3'' is a film released in 2001 about the

1981 Irish hunger strike The 1981 Irish hunger strike was the culmination of a five-year protest during the Troubles by Irish republicanism, Irish republican prisoners in Northern Ireland. The protest began as the blanket protest in 1976, when the British government ...

HM Prison Maze Her Majesty's Prison Maze (previously Long Kesh Detention Centre, and known colloquially as The Maze or H-Blocks) was a prison in Northern Ireland that was used to house alleged paramilitary prisoners during the Troubles from August 1971 to Sept ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

, the events leading up to it, and subsequent developments in the prisoners' struggle for

Prisoner of War A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of wa ...

status. It was directed by

Les Blair Leslie "Les" Blair (born 23 October 1941, Manchester, England) is a BAFTA winning television, film and theatre director. Gaining notoriety for his controversial mini-series ''Law And Order'' (shown in 1978 on BBC2), Blair has gone on to direc ...

and was written by Brian Campbell and

Laurence McKeown Laurence McKeown (born 1956) is an Irish author, playwright, screenwriter, and former Volunteer (Irish republican), volunteer in the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) who took part in the 1981 Irish hunger strike. Background and IRA activi ...

; McKeown was a former volunteer in the

Provisional IRA The Irish Republican Army (IRA; ), also known as the Provisional Irish Republican Army, and informally as the Provos, was an Irish republicanism, Irish republican paramilitary organisation that sought to end British rule in Northern Ireland, fa ...

who participated in the hunger strike.

Cast

* Brendan Mackey as Seamus Scullion *

Dean Lennox Kelly Dean Lennox Kelly (born 30 November 1975) is an English actor. He is known for his television roles as Kev Ball in '' Shameless'' and Meredith Rutter in '' Jamestown''. Early life Kelly is from Lytham St Annes, Lancashire. He trained at the B ...

as Ciaran * Aidan Campbell as Declan * Tony Devlin as Madra * Kevin Elliot as Liam * Mark O'Halloran as

Bobby Sands Robert Gerard Sands ( ga, Roibeárd Gearóid Ó Seachnasaigh; 9 March 1954 – 5 May 1981) was a member (and leader in the Maze prison) of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) who died on hunger strike while imprisoned at HM Prison M ...

* Sean McDonagh as Proinsias *

Fergal McElherron Fergal or Feargal are Irish, male given names. They are anglicized forms of the name Fearghal.Mairéad Byrne, Irish Baby Names – 25 Apr 2005 The arts *Fergal Keane, OBE (born 1961), Irish writer and broadcaster *Feargal Sharkey (born 1958), for ...

Francis Hughes Francis Joseph Sean Hughes (28 February 1956 – 12 May 1981) was a volunteer in the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) from Bellaghy, County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. Hughes was the most wanted man in Northern Ireland until his ar ...

* Mark McCrory as Morton * Dan Gordon as Simpson * Gerry O'Brien as The Governor

Awards

The film was nominated for four awards and won one of them, the Golden Rosa Camuna award at the Bergamo Film Meeting.

External links

H3 Official website
* * {{amg movie, 342527, H3
H3 at the British Film Catalogue
2001 films Northern Irish films Irish drama films Irish-language films English-language Irish films 2001 drama films Films about The Troubles (Northern Ireland) Films about the Irish Republican Army 2000s prison drama films Political drama films Films set in Northern Ireland Films based on actual events 1981 Irish hunger strike 2000s English-language films