''Who We Love'' is an Irish coming-of-age drama film directed by

Graham Cantwell Graham Cantwell (born 25 March 1974) is an Irish film and television director. He is best known for directing feature film Anton which achieved a three-week domestic cinema release and was nominated for three Irish Film and Television Awards ...

and written by Cantwell and Katie McNeice. It is a feature-length adaptation of Cantwell's 2016 short film ''Lily''. It premiered at the 2021

Galway Film Fleadh The Galway Film Fleadh (; Irish for "festival") is an international film festival founded in 1989 as part of the Galway Arts Festival. Describing itself as Ireland’s leading film festival, the event is held every July in Galway city in Irela ...

Cast

Production

's 2016 short film ''Lily'' screened at film festivals and received

IFTA Ifta is a former municipality in the Wartburgkreis district of Thuringia, Germany. Since 1 January 2019, it has been part of the town Treffurt Treffurt () is a small town in the western region of the Wartburgkreis district which belongs to the f ...

accolades. Cantwell returned to direct and write the feature version with Katie McNeice joining him as a writer. Cantwell also produced ''Who We Love'' alongside Edwina Forkin and Alan Fitzpatrick. The American duo the Ray Sisters did the cinematography for the film. Clara Harte, Dean Quinn, and Amy-Joyce Hastings reprised the leads from the short film.

Paul Ronan Paul Anthony Ronan (born 21 March 1965) is an Irish actor. Career In 1995, Ronan's acting career started. Ronan has been a regular performer in TV and films since the mid-'90s, notably as Edso Dowling in the ''Ballykissangel'' TV series; oth ...

, Aisling O'Neill, Lynette Callaghan also reprised their supporting roles. Venetia Bowe replaced Leah McNamara as Violet. Also cast were Amy Hughes,

Danielle Galligan Danielle Galligan (born 1 December 1992) is an Irish actress, theatre maker, and poet. On television, she is known for her role in the Netflix series ''Shadow and Bone'' (2021–). She was nominated for an IFTA for her performance in the film '' ...

Jimmy Smallhorne Jimmy Smallhorne is an Irish filmmaker who wrote, directed and acted in his debut feature film ''2by4''. The drama about a closeted gay construction worker in New York City was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at the 1998 Sundance Film Festival ...

, and Alison McGirr. Principal photography took place in and around Dublin, and experienced disruptions due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

. Filming locations included the Donahies Community School, Dublin City Centre, the George, PantiBar, and Pennylane.

Release

The film had its first screening on 24 July 2021 at the

Awards and nominations

References

External links

*{{IMDb title, 14949302 2021 LGBT-related films Features based on short films Films shot in County Dublin Remakes of Irish films Irish LGBT-related films LGBT-related film remakes English-language Irish films 2020s English-language films