List of Welsh films
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Contents |
[edit] Welsh language films
[edit] 1930s
1935: Y Chwarelwr (The Quarryman), directed by Ifan ab Owen Edwards.
[edit] 1980s
1986: Milwr Bychan ("Boy Soldier"), directed by Karl Francis.
1986: Rhosyn a Rhith ("Coming Up Roses"), directed by Stephen Bayly.
[edit] 1990s
1991: Un Nos Ola Leuad, directed by Endaf Emlyn.
1992: Hedd Wyn - Oscar-nominated for Best Foreign Language Film in 1992. It won a Bafta for the Best Foreign Language Film in the year of its release. Directed by Paul Turner.
1993: Cwm Hyfryd (My Pretty Valley), also directed by Paul Turner, concerns itself with a critique of Thatcherism, particularly as it relates to the closing of mines in Wales.
1993: Gadael Lenin (Leaving Lenin), about a group of Welsh students and teachers who take a trip to Russia. Directed by Endaf Emlyn.
1994: Ymadawiad Arthur (Arthur's Departure), directed by Marc Evans and starring Rhys Ifans's brother, Llyr Ifans.
1995: Y Mapiwr. Directed by Endaf Emlyn.
1998: Pum Cynnig i Gymro (Bride of War), directed by Peter Edwards.
1999: Solomon & Gaenor, starring Cardiff-born actor Ioan Gruffudd. An English-language version was also filmed at the same time. Directed by Paul Morrison.
[edit] 2000s
2003: Y Mabinogi, also featuring Ioan Gruffudd; this is a combined live-action and animated version of Welsh collection of tales known as The Mabinogion. Directed by Derek W. Hayes.
2005: Y Lleill, directed by Emyr Glyn Williams.
2006: Calon Gaeth ("Small Country"), directed by Ashley Way.
[edit] Films set in Wales
[edit] 1930s
1932: The Old Dark House, starring Boris Karloff. Directed by James Whale.
1935: Y Chwarelwr, "The Quarryman" in English.
1938: The Citadel, set in a Welsh mining town. Directed by King Vidor.
[edit] 1940s
1940: The Proud Valley, concerning Welsh coal miners. Directed by Pen Tennyson.
1941: How Green Was My Valley, a classic directed by the great John Ford; winner of 5 Oscars, including Best Director and Best Picture. (However, the film is often criticized for the actors having Irish accents, as several of the actors were Irish, and having a scene with an Irish jig instead of a traditional Welsh dance. Ford's response to these criticisms were simply, "It's a Celtic country, isn't it?")[1]
1941: The Wolf Man, featuring Bela Lugosi. Directed by George Waggner.
1944: The Halfway House, directed by Basil Dearden.
1945: The Corn Is Green, starring Bette Davis. Directed by Irving Rapper.
1949: A Run for Your Money, directed by Charles Frend.
[edit] 1950s
1959: Tiger Bay, takes place in Tiger Bay, Cardiff, Wales. Directed by J. Lee Thompson.
[edit] 1960s
1962: Dylan Thomas, a short documentary on the poet featuring the narration of the Welsh actor Richard Burton. Directed by Jack Howells.
1962: Only Two Can Play, starring Peter Sellers as the Welsh character John Lewis and directed by Sidney Gilliat.
1967: Rocket to the Moon, directed by Don Sharp.
[edit] 1970s
1972: Under Milk Wood - a film version of Dylan Thomas's "play for voices", starring Pontrhydyfen-born actor Richard Burton, then wife Elizabeth Taylor and Peter O'Toole. Directed by Andrew Sinclair.
1976: At the Earth's Core, directed by Kevin Conner, takes place in the Welsh mountains.
1978: Dylan, about Dylan Thomas's final visit to America, concluding with his death in New York on 9th November, 1953. Directed by Richard Lewis.
[edit] 1980s
1983: House of the Long Shadows, directed by Pete Walker.
1986: Coming Up Roses. Directed by Stephen Bayly.
1987: A Child's Christmas in Wales, a film based on Dylan Thomas's work of the same name. Directed by Don McBrearty.
1987: On the Black Hill, about Welsh identical twins. Directed by Andrew Grieve.
[edit] 1990s
1990: Dylan Thomas: Return Journey, a one-man show featuring Bob Kingdom as Thomas and directed by Anthony Hopkins.
1991: Un Nos Ola Leuad, directed by Endaf Emlyn.
1992: Hedd Wyn - Oscar-nominated for Best Foreign Language Film in 1992. It won a Bafta for the Best Foreign Language Film in the year of its release. Directed by Paul Turner.
1992: Elenya, concerning a woman of Italian descent living in Wales. Directed by Steve Gough.
1993: Gadael Lenin ("Leaving Lenin"), about a group of Welsh students and teachers who take a trip to Russia. Directed by Endaf Emlyn.
1994: Second Best, starring William Hurt, Alan Cumming and Chris Cleary Miles. Directed by Chris Menges.
1995: The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill But Came Down a Mountain, starring Hugh Grant. Directed by Christopher Monger.
1995: Y Mapiwr. Directed by Endaf Emlyn.
1995: Streetlife, starring Rhys Ifans. Directed by Karl Francis.
1996: August, directed by Margam, Wales-born actor/director Anthony Hopkins, is an adaptation of Chekov's Uncle Vanya set in North Wales.
1996: Darklands, concerning druidic cults. Directed by Julian Richards.
1997: Twin Town, starring brothers Rhys Ifans and Llyr Ifans. Directed by Kevin Allen.
1997: House of America, starring Siân Phillips and Matthew Rhys. Directed by Marc Evans.
1997: Prince Valiant, directed by Anthony Hickox. Based on the comic strip series.
1997: The Proposition, directed by Strathford Hamilton.
1999: Human Traffic. Directed by Justin Kerrigan.
1999: Solomon & Gaenor, starring Cardiff-born actor Ioan Gruffudd. An English-language version was also filmed at the same time. Directed by Paul Morrison.
1999: The Funeral of the Last Gypsy King, a short film directed by Jane Rogoyska.
[edit] 2000s
2000: The Testimony of Taliesin Jones (aka Small Miracles), starring John-Paul Macleod and Jonathan Pryce. Directed by Martin Duffy.
2000: House!, about Bingo rivalries in South Wales, starring Kelly Macdonald. Directed by Julian Kemp.
2001: Very Annie Mary, starring Rachel Griffiths, Holywell-born Jonathan Pryce and Ioan Gruffudd. Directed by Sara Sugarman.
2001: Happy Now, starring Ioan Gruffudd. Directed by Philippa Cousins.
2001: Endgame, directed by Gary Wicks; much of the film takes place at the main character's Welsh cottage.
2002: Plots with a View (aka: Undertaking Betty), directed by Nick Hurran. Staring Brenda Blethyn, Alfred Molina, Christopher Walken, and Lee Evans. A brilliant, but commercially unsuccessful, black comedy about competing undertakers in the small fictional Welsh village of Wrottin Powys. Won the BAFTA Cymru Award, in 2003. Not yet released in the UK.
2003: Y Mabinogi, also featuring Ioan Gruffudd; this is a combined live-action and animated version of Welsh collection of tales known as The Mabinogion. Directed by Derek W. Hayes.
2003: I'll Be There, written and directed by Scottish comedian Craig Ferguson and featuring Welsh singer Charlotte Church.
2005: The Dark, starring Sean Bean and Maria Bello. While taking place in Wales, it reinvisions the Otherworld (from The Mabinogion) as being a place of hellish torment. Directed by John Fawcett.
2005: Evil Aliens takes place on the Welsh island of Scallad. Directed by Jake West.
2005: Ramble On, an animated short directed by Tom Parkinson.
2006: Dirty Sanchez: The Movie. The Welsh equivalent of Jackass, but arguably raunchier. Directed by Jim Hickey.
2006: Little White Lies, directed by Caradog W. James.
2006: Love You, Joseff Hughes, a short directed by Dan Hartley.
2008 will see three films concerning the life of Dylan Thomas:
- The Edge of Love, starring Matthew Rhys as Thomas, Keira Knightley, Sienna Miller (as Dylan's wife, Caitlin MacNamara) and Cillian Murphy. Directed by John Maybury.
- Dylan, starring Kevin McKidd as Thomas. Directed by Mick Davis.
- Caitlin, starring Michael Sheen as Thomas, Miranda Richardson as Caitlin MacNamara, and Pierce Brosnan. Directed by Marc Evans.
[edit] Other Welsh-related films
1952: Cosh Boy, a film in which the main character's mother is Welsh. Directed by Lewis Gilbert.
1958: Look Back in Anger, starring Welsh actor Richard Burton and featuring the Welsh character, Cliff. Directed by Tony Richardson.
1959: I'm All Right, Jack, starring Peter Sellers and featuring a Welsh worker named Dai. Directed by John Boulting.
1959: Upstairs and Downstairs features a Welsh female character. Directed by Ralph Thomas.
1964: Zulu, starring Michael Caine, depicts the struggle of a Welsh company against Zulu warriors. Directed by Cy Endfield.
1968: Candy, featuring Richard Burton as the Welsh alcoholic poet, MacPhisto.
1971: Two English Girls (Les Deux anglaises et le continent), directed by François Truffaut. Despite the title, the titular characters are actually both Welsh.
1971: 10 Rillington Place, directed by Richard Fleischer. Stars John Hurt as a Welshman living in London.
1983: Taking Tiger Mountain; Militant feminist scientists brainwash research subject to assassinate the Welsh Minister of Prostitution. Directed by Tom Huckabee.
1991: Old Scores, a film set in New Zealand about a former Welsh rugby star. Directed by Alan Clayton.
1994: Au Pair, directed by Angelika Weber; the main character and her boyfriend are Welsh.
1997: The Replacements, featuring Rhys Ifans as a Welsh soccer player who gets recruited to play American football. Directed by Howard Deutch.
2000: The Miracle Maker, starring Ralph Fiennes' as Jesus, was filmed in Cardiff, Wales. Directed by Derek W. Hayes and Stanislav Sokolov.
2004: Heights, starring Glenn Close. Features Andrew Howard as the Welsh character, Ian. Directed by Chris Terrio.
2004: Patrick, a documentary about the Welsh St. Patrick who became the patron saint of Ireland. Directed by Pamela Mason Wagner.
2006: Half Light, starring Demi Moore and directed by Craig Rosenberg, is set in Scotland but was shot on location in Wales.
[edit] Welsh actors and directors
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ David Berry Wales and Cinema: The First Hundred Years. Cardiff, 1994, page 161.
