Bonnie Dennison

Black Irish -- In South Boston, where Irish roots run deep and Catholic tradition reigns, two brothers face similar hardships but lead far different lives.

Winner Toronto Midnight Madness 2010. The America of STAKE LAND is a lost nation. When an epidemic of vampirism strikes, humans find themselves on the run from vicious, feral beasts. Cities are tombs and survivors cling together in rural pockets, fearful of nightfall. When his family is slaughtered, young Martin is taken under the wing of a grizzled, wayward hunter whose new prey are the undead. Simply known as Mister, the vampire stalker takes Martin on a journey through the locked-down towns of America's heartland, searching for a better place while taking down any bloodsuckers that cross their path. Along the way they recruit fellow travelers, including a nun who is caught in a crisis of faith when her followers turn into ravenous beasts. This ragtag family unit cautiously moves north, avoiding major thoroughfares that have been seized by The Brethren, a fundamentalist militia that interprets the plague as the Lord's work.

The America of STAKE LAND is a lost nation. When an epidemic of vampirism strikes, humans find themselves on the run from vicious, feral beasts. When his family is slaughtered, young Martin (Connor Paolo) is taken under the wing of a grizzled, wayward hunter (Nick Damici) whose new prey are the undead. The two make their way through the locked-down towns of America's heartland, searching for a better place while taking down any bloodsuckers that cross their path.

Sixteen-year-old Cole McKay's struggle for independence is put to the test as his South Boston Irish-Catholic family implodes around him. Older brother Terry is descending into a life of drugs and crime, pregnant sister Kathleen is being sent away to cover the shame of unwed motherhood and Cole's father, Desmond, spends his days in a fog of alcohol and self-pity, silently torturing himself over what might have been. The one thing keeping young Cole's head above water is his love of baseball. A talented pitcher, Cole overcomes self-doubt and family indifference to fight his way into the state championships. To get there however, he must make a life and death decision, a decision that will change the McKay family forever. The term "Black Irish" has also been used pejoratively to describe Irish people from hardscrabble roots: hard-drinking, brawling, of a lower class tracing back to the 19th century American sentiment "Irish Need Not Apply".