He took his seat at the Movie House in Belfast alongside Hollywood actress Geraldine Hughes – one of stars of the show – to watch the low-budget film which is showing as part of the Belfast Film Festival.
Mr McGuinness said: “The Film and Television industry is one of our key creative industries here and, thanks to the work of NI Screen, we have begun to make our mark as a profitable location for shooting top class movies.
“As a result of our recent discussions with some of the largest movie and television producers in LA we are hopeful that we will be able to make some significant announcements shortly.
“We will continue to stress the benefits of filming here as well as pointing out to other potential investors that we have one very big advantage over our competitors - we have the Paint Hall in the Titanic Quarter – the jewel in our crown when it comes to film-making facilities.”
Speaking before the start of “Pump Girl”, the stage version of which showed in London and New York, Mr McGuinness praised the work of Belfast-born actress Geraldine Hughes who has starred alongside Hollywood greats like Clint Eastwood and Sylvester Stallone.
The Minister said: “Despite enjoying the glitz and glamour of mixing with Hollywood’s A-listers this West Belfast girl has never forgotten her roots. No stranger to big-budget movies and red-carpet premiers she continues to return home to share her experience and expertise with aspiring actors.
“It’s a pleasure to share this special evening with Geraldine as well as some of our best film-makers and actors. I wish them every success with the movie and thank them and NI Screen for bringing Pump Girl to Belfast.”
Notes to Editors:
- The film Pump Girl was made through Northern Ireland Screen’s Low Budget fiction scheme, 2008-2009.
- The entire cast comes from the north and the majority of crew and contributors to the film are either from here or are permanently resident here.
- BBC Northern Ireland provided £30,000 of the film’s budget.
- The writer, Abbie Spallen, is from Newry, and was last year’s winner of BBC Northern Ireland’s Tony Doyle Award for new writers. The film screenplay is based on Abbie’s stage play of the same title, which has been produced in London, New York and Belfast’s Lyric Theatre.
- Pump Girl was shot during October last year on locations within a radius of 25 miles from Belfast.
- The film’s producers are Chris Parr and Anthony Rowe and the Director is Carol Moore.
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