Hunger
Steve McQueen's debut feature exploring the real-life events surrounding the 1981 IRA hunger strike at Northern Ireland's Maze Prison.
Steve McQueen directs this unflinching dramatisation of the last weeks in the life of Bobby Sands, the Provisional IRA member who led the 1981 Irish hunger strike in the political wing of Belfast's Maze Prison. Michael Fassbender plays Sands, whose passionate commitment to the cause for which he has been imprisoned and in the righteousness of dying for his political beliefs is portrayed in a central scene where he discusses the morality of the hunger strike with a visiting priest (Liam Cunningham). The film premiered at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival.
Awards
At the Cannes Film Festival in 2008, Steve McQueen was awarded the Camera d'Or. He also was awarded the Carl Foreman award for Most Promising Newcomer at the British Academy Film Awards in 2009, where Hunger was nominated for Best British Film.
