Ken Loach's civil war epic The Wind That Shakes the Barleyhas been nominated for the prestigious Palme d'Or award at this year's Cannes Film Festival.
The film, starring Cillian Murphy and Liam Cunningham, has been selected for competition at the French festival in late May.
It will battle with Spanish director Pedro Almodovar's Volverand Sofia Coppola's Marie-Antoinettefor the festival's most prestigious award, which was won last year by Belgian drama, L'Enfant.
US director Richard Linklater is in contention for his film adaptation of non-fiction book Fast Food Nation, while Il Caimano (The Caiman), a satirical portrait of Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi from director Nanni Moretti is also included in the short list.
Tom Hanks, Bruce Willis, Hugh Jackman and Kirsten Dunst are among the stars expected at this year's event, which opens on May 17th with a gala screening of The Da Vinci Code, the film version of the controversial Dan Brown bestseller.
The Wind That Shakes the Barleybegins in 1919 and tells the story of two brothers who fought together during the Irish war of Independence, before finding themselves on opposing sides as civil war ensued.
The film was shot on location in Cork and Kerry over seven weeks.
The Wind That Shakes the Barleyis an Irish-UK-Italian-German-Spanish co-production that was produced with a budget of approximately €6.5 million and had an Irish investment of almost €4 million.
It was produced with financing from the Irish Film Board, the UK Film Council and TV3, among others.
PA