Conspiracy of Silence (film)

Conspiracy of Silence
Directed by	John Deery
Produced by	John Deery & Davina Stanley
Written by	John Deery
Starring	Jonathan Forbes Jason Barry Hugh Quarshie Hugh Bonneville Sean McGinley Chris O'Dowd Brenda Fricker
Cinematography	Jason Lehel
Edited by	Jamie Trevill
Production company	Flick Features Little Wing Films
Distributed by	TLA Releasing (USA - DVD) Element Pictures (UK and Ireland - DVD) Watch Entertainment (USA - theatrical) Joejack Entertainment (Non-USA - DVD)
Release date	2003 (limited) 2014 (re-release)
Running time	90 minutes
Country	United Kingdom Ireland
Language	English
Budget	$3 million
Box office	$2,598

Conspiracy of Silence is a British drama film set in Ireland and inspired by real events. The film challenges celibacy and its implication for the Catholic Church in the 21st century.

Written and directed by John Deery, the cast includes: Academy Award-winner Brenda Fricker, Hugh Bonneville, Chris O'Dowd, John Lynch, Jonathan Forbes, Jason Barry, Sean McGinley, Fintan McKeown, Jim Norton and Hugh Quarshie.

The movie won many international awards including the U.S. National Board of Review of Motion Pictures' Freedom of Expression Award in 2004, which it shared with Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11 and Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ. Deery was also nominated for Best Film Director at the Irish Film Awards in 2003. The screenplay was developed at the Sundance Screenwriters' Lab in Utah and won the Hartley-Merrill International Screenwriting Award presented to Deery at the Cannes Film Festival in 2001.

The film was invited to be shown at many film festivals in 2003 to be in Competition and/or Official Selection including: Taormina, Italy (first public screening, June 2003), Moscow International Film Festival, Opening Night film at the Galway Film Festival, Ireland, Montreal Film Festival, Hamburg Film Festival, Warsaw Film Festival where it won a Special Jury Award, Dinard Festival of British Cinema, France, and the American Film Institute (AFI) Festival in Los Angeles. It received an art house release in the United States but, so far, has not been released in the UK.