IRISH FEATURE ‘SONGS FOR AMY’ WINS AT 2012 NEWPORT BEACH FILM FESTIVAL

Irish feature film ‘Songs for Amy’, which made its American debut on May 1st, has officially won ‘Outstanding Achievement in Filmmaking’ at the 13th Annual Newport Beach Film Festival (www.NewportBeachFilmFest.com). The darkly comedic love story, which was filmed in Galway and New York, stars an impressive cast including Irish award-winning actor Kevin Ryan (BBC America’s ‘Copper’), Sean Maguire (Meet the Spartans), James Cosmo (Sons of Anarchy), Lorna Anderson (River City) Gavin Mitchell (You Instead) and Patrick Bergin (Sleeping with the Enemy).

Directed by BAFTA and Emmy-nominated Konrad Begg (Top Gear) and produced by Fiona Graham with Sonny and Skye Productions and Seafaring films, ‘Songs for Amy’ follows Sean (Sean Maguire), a tormented Irish musician who writes an album for the love of his life, Amy (Lorna Anderson), in an attempt to redeem himself for the mistakes that he made. His roller-coaster journey to win her back takes him through love, loss, regret and hope, all with the help and hindrance from his misfit band mates.

“JJ was a fun character to play with, I saw him as an insecure, egotistical, narcissist pop star who demonstrates loudly the commercial byproducts of the entertainment world,” says Kevin Ryan “ It was a very different character for me to toy with, saying that, so is an 1864 New York Detective that I am currently working with on with the new series Copper. I truly love to challenge myself and constantly switch up the characters I play, that’s where the fun and danger lays.”

Dublin born Ryan, who plays famed pop icon JJ Fitzgerald in ‘Songs for Amy’, is Ireland’s rising star. He recently starred in the top award winning RTE One TV drama ‘Raw’, and his lead role in Philippe Caland’s (‘Ripple Effect’, ‘Boxing Helena’) ‘Tripping Tommy’ is scheduled for worldwide release later this year.

Ryan’s latest role is as Detective Francis Macguire in BBC America’s highly anticipated and ambitious crime drama series ‘Copper’, alongside Britain’s Tom Weston-Jones (MI-5). The two leading actors play rugged Irish-American cops in the BBC’s first original scripted series, created by Emmy-winner Tom Fontana (Oz, Homicide: Life on the Streets, St. Elsewhere) and Academy Award-nominee Will Rokos (Monster’s Ball, Southland) and among the executive producers are Academy Award-winner Barry Levinson (Good Morning Vietnam, Rain Man, You Don’t Know Jack), Cineflix Media Co-CEO Glen Salzman and Cineflix Studios President Christina Wayne (Broken Trail and executive in charge of Mad Men), premiering on August 19th at 9pm ET/PT across the US.