The Mighty Celt

The Mighty Celt
Promotional theatre poster
Directed by	Pearse Elliot
Produced by	Robert Walpole, Paddy McDonald, Paddy Breathnach
Starring	Gillian Anderson Tyrone McKenna Robert Carlyle Ken Stott Seán McGinley
Edited by	Dermot Diskin
Music by	Adrian Johnston
Production companies	BBC Films Irish Film Board Northern Ireland Film and Television Commission Green Park Films Treasure Entertainment
Release dates	11 February 2005 (2005-02-11) (Dublin) 26 August 2005 (2005-08-26)
Running time	82 minutes
Countries	Ireland United Kingdom
Language	English

The Mighty Celt is a 2005 drama film set in Northern Ireland, written and directed by Pearse Elliott. It stars Gillian Anderson, Robert Carlyle, Sean McGinley, Ken Stott and Tyrone McKenna. It is centred on greyhound racing in a Catholic community after the intercommunal "Troubles" have ended but where their legacy remains strong. The film was well received in Ireland, with Gillian Anderson receiving an IFTA Award for Best International Actress. The film's title is based on the name of a comic book shown in the movie.

The greyhound scenes were filmed at Ballyskeagh Greyhound track.

Cast

• Robert Carlyle as O
• Gillian Anderson as Kate
• Ken Stott as Good Joe
• Tyrone McKenna as Donal

Reception

On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an 67% approval rating based on 6 reviews, with an average ranking of 5.7/10.

William Thomas of Empire wrote "There's promise in the bursts of dark humour, but these are few and far between, only serving to remind us how much better directors like Ken Loach have dealt with the coming-of-age genre".

External links

• The Mighty Celt at IMDb
• The Mighty Celt at the British Films Catalogue