Writers’ Tears rejoices in film partnership to honour the centenary of James Joyce’s epic - Ulysses
- Writers’ Tears whiskey to support Left Bank an international, hybrid documentary film about Four Remarkable Women who made the first publication of Ulysses possible in 1922.
- First phase of development funding for the €1.3m documentary movie being shot in Dublin, Paris & the U.S., closes on 9th June next
Some 99 years after the publication of James Joyce’s, Ulysses, Writers’ Tears Irish whiskey is providing inspirational support for the production of Left Bank - a hybrid documentary film about how four unheralded, independent-thinking women made Joyce’s banned, burned and censored book a reality.
The innovative film, which will be released internationally in 2022 - the centenary year of Ulysses, will reveal the interwoven relationships between Joyce and the four women key to supporting his writing, his family and the publication of Ulysses in 1922 – considered the greatest novel of the 20th Century.
These four women of different nationalities were: Joyce’s muse/then wife – Nora Barnacle, born in Galway, Ireland (1884-1951); Joyce’s patron, Harriet Weaver, born in Cheshire, England (1876-1961); his publisher Sylvia Beach, born in Baltimore, USA (1887-1962) and Beach’s lover and bookstore owner, Adrienne Monnier, born in Paris, France (1892-1955).
Left Bank is currently being produced in Dublin, Paris and New York, where the project originated. It will be a hybrid feature documentary - using scripted scenes, animation and graphics, interviews with expert and archival footage/photos. The film will evoke the time, place and mood of effervescent 1920s Paris as women fought to fulfil their creative and intellectual potential.
Writers’ Tears Irish whiskey, is providing funding, promotional and liquid support to the project team. The producers are in the process of arranging the financing of the innovative film which has a budget of [approximately €1.3 million/ USD$1.6 million]. The first phase of development funding, being raised on Kickstarter.com, closes soon on the 9th June, 2021. People can donate directly through: Left Bank by lisa reznik — Kickstarter.
Announcing the partnership, Bernard Walsh, the creator and owner of Writers’ Tears whiskey along with his wife Rosemary, said: “We are delighted to further our association with the arts, and in particular the works of James Joyce, through this great partnership with the team producing Left Bank – The Film. We already support Sweny’s Pharmacy of Lincoln Place, which the author himself visited in 1904 and which featured in Ulysses as part of Leopold Bloom’s legendary walk through Dublin on 16th June of the same year, when the entire novel is set. We have exciting plans to bring our celebration of Joyce’s creative genius to new levels next year, the centenary of the publication of Ulysses and Bloomsday itself.”
Jane Applegate, lead producer of Left Bank - The Film said: “We are thrilled to be working with Bernard and Rosemary Walsh to produce this film which reframes history, telling the story of these remarkable feminists who were the cornerstones of Joyce’s literary success.”
“Our team of award-winning female filmmakers is based in Ireland, France, Finland and America,” Applegate said. “We start shooting in Dublin on Bloomsday (16th June) and will be back to shoot the narrative scenes between Nora and James in the Fall.”
The narrative scenes will be shot at a studio in France and co-produced by Margaux Dupont’s VLAM Productions.
Lisa Reznik, Left Bank’s, co-writer and co-director, said: “I’ve been researching this untold story for more than 10 years. We are so happy to be sharing it with Joyceans and others who love books and literature.”
Left Bank Bookseller, Reznik’s short narrative film, which inspired the Left Bank hybrid documentary, will be screened in Dublin during the 2021 Bloomsday Film Festival (Bloomsday Film Festival — Bloomsday Festival).
