Categories Dream Horse Print Media Review

Dream Horse Review by Washington Post

Welsh Pride

by Michael O’Sullivan | Washington Post | May 19, 2021

Based on a true story, “Dream Horse” is a straightforward and unfussy feel-good drama about a group of ordinary people from a small Welsh town who decide to inject a little zest (and the risk of financial ruin) into their humdrum lives by breeding a racehorse, although none of them has the slightest experience in the field. Improbably, the stallion — named Dream Alliance for the motley assortment of naive and starry-eyed nobodies who form a syndicate to financially support, raise and race him — manages to do better than anyone could have imagined.

Anyone, that is, who has never seen a horse-racing movie before. (For the factual backstory, watch the charming documentary “Dark Horse.”)

The film’s protagonists, including the town drunk, the butcher and a lonely old lady — all of whom are colorful but clueless, with the exception of a savvy Cardiff accountant (Damian Lewis) who once owned and raced a thoroughbred — are not in it for the money but for something called the hwyl. It’s a Welsh concept (approximately pronounced “hoil”) that roughly translates to: a reason to get up in the morning.

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Categories Dream Horse Print Media Review

Dream Horse Review by LA Times

A Sense of Purpose, Companionship and Community

by Katie Walsh | LA Times | May 19, 2021

What’s in a name? For the plucky Welsh racehorse Dream Alliance, well, a lot. His mighty moniker reflects the big dreams of his unlikely owners, a syndicate of working-class folks from a tiny Welsh coal-mining village. Based on a true story, “Dream Horse” depicts the unlikely and amazing tale of Jan Vokes (played here by Toni Collette), who rallies her community to pitch in a few pounds a week and make a go of it in the high-stakes, high-class world of racehorses. In this rousing, inspirational film, one remarkable colt allows a group of people to regain a long lost connection with one another.

Welsh director Euros Lyn infuses the story of Dream Alliance, also the subject of the 2015 documentary “Dark Horse,” by Louise Osmond, with a warm sense of humor and heart, thrilling emotional stakes, and a deeply felt sense of local pride. The screenplay, by Neil McKay, demonstrates how something as formulaic as an underdog sports story can still resonate, with charming characters and relatable conflict.

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Categories Dream Horse Print Media Review

Dream Horse Review by The Independent

Steady Gallop

by AP News Wire | The Independent | May 20, 2021

The based-on-a-true-story “Dream Horse,” about a Welsh bartender who turns unlikely race horse breeder, is a feel-good movie that’s a little too heavy on the “feel-good” to really do the trick.

But as with all long shots that pay off, “Dream Horse” has its hard-to-deny charms. While it deviates little from the conventions of the “Billy Elliot”/”The Full Monty” formula, Euros Lyn’s film also doesn’t stray from a dependable course of underdog triumph, midlife renewal and community spirit.

The performances by Toni Collette as the determined Jan Vokes, and Owen Teale, as her curmudgeonly but dedicated husband with a mouth half full of teeth, go a long way to enlivening it. So does a sense of Welsh pride. Outside “How Green Was My Valley” and Anthony Hopkins’ recent awards acceptance speeches, the richly rugged, pastoral land on the western shores of Great Britain seldom attracts the spotlight like it does here. It’s in these two things — the Vokes’ relationship and the movie’s Welsh heart — that “Dream Horse” finishes ahead.

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Categories Dream Horse Print Media Review

Dream Horse Review by Slant Magazine

A Warm-Hearted Tribute to a Spirited Animal and People

by Mark Jenkins | Slant Magazine | May 17, 2021

***3 out of 4 stars***

Anyone who’s seen Dark Horse, Louise Osmond’s 2015 documentary about a group of poor Welsh villagers pooling their money to bankroll a race horse, will know what’s going to happen in Dream Horse, a fictionalization of the earlier film. But, then, so will anyone who’s ever seen an underdog sports movie, or one of those British ensemble comedies that celebrate working-class hopes and schemes. The comic drama works because of the smarts and relative subtlety of Euros Lyn’s direction and Neil McKay’s screenplay, and thanks to a winning cast of Welsh locals and a few outsiders, notably the versatile Toni Collette, who never lets her accent slip from south Wales to her native New South Wales.

Collette deftly plays Jan Vokes, a middle-aged empty-nester who tends a supermarket cash register by day and a social-club bar at night. Her affinity for animals is established in the opening scene, in which she awakens in the bed she shares with her long-unemployed husband, Brian (Owen Teale), and a huge dog, before then stumbling into the kitchen to be greeted by a convalescent goose. Jan doesn’t covet a horse until she overhears local tax accountant Howard Davies (Damian Lewis) at the club, boasting about his success with a horseracing syndicate. (The story is partly true but missing some sobering details.) Inspired, Jan calls a meeting of neighbors in the depressed former mining town, and persuades enough of them to tithe weekly to fund the purchase of a mare. The winning argument involves hwyl, a Welsh word that can be translated as “fun” but also as “collective spirit.”

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Categories Dream Horse Horse Racing Print Media

Dream Horse: New Release Dates and New Trailer

Thoroughbred at the 2021 Box Office

by Nathan Bevan | Wales Online | May 5, 2021

Dream Horse, the star-studded film about Welsh race horse Dream Alliance and the Rhymney Valley community has finally got a release date. Covid restrictions saw it delayed for more than a year, but the finishing post is now in sight. Dream Horse will be in US movie theaters May 21, 2021 and UK movie theaters June 4, 2021.

Shot on location in South Wales, the film looks like a guaranteed crowd pleaser.

VIDEOS:

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Categories Atlanta Film Festival Dream Horse

Dream Horse Screening at the Atlanta Film Festival – April 9, 2021

Film Festival in Atlanta

by Gingersnap | damian-lewis.com | April 9, 2021

The Atlanta Film Festival 2021 takes place from April 22 – May 2 in Atlanta, Georgia. This year, conscious of Covid-safety, the 23rd annual festival will be presented in a hybrid format, with a mix of outdoor screenings, virtual cinema, celebrity conversations, limited parties, and some indoor film events. Due to the ongoing pandemic, ATLFF 2021 will be presented via a mix of drive-in, virtual and socially distanced in-person screenings.

Marquee film Dream Horse with Damian Lewis and Toni Collette will screen Wednesday, April 28th from 7:00 PM – 9:10 PM EDT at Plaza Theatre A located at 1049 Ponce De Leon Ave NE, Atlanta, GA 30306.

Festival passes and tickets for individual events are on sale now on the site. Drive-in screenings cost $15-50 (depending on the number of people in the vehicle), virtual events cost $9.99 and tickets to in-person screenings cost $20.

Select a showing here to purchase tickets.
For more information, please visit Atlanta Film Festival here

Categories Dream Horse Sarasota Film Festival

Dream Horse to Close Sarasota Film Festival – April 9, 2021

Film Festival in Florida

by Gingersnap | damian-lewis.com | April 9, 2021

The Sarasota Film Festival 2021 takes place from April 30 – May 9 in Sarasota, Florida. This year, conscious of Covid-safety, the 23rd annual festival will be presented in a hybrid format, with a mix of outdoor screenings, virtual cinema, celebrity conversations, limited parties, and some indoor film events.

Bleecker Street’s Dream Horse, a horse racing drama that stars Damian Lewis and Toni Collette and is directed by Euros Lyn, will close the event. The box office opens Thursday, April 15th. You can purchase tickets here.

Location
323 Central Avenue
Sarasota, FL 34236

For more information or ticket sales, please visit Sarasota Film Festival here

Categories Dream Horse Film Festival Screenings USA Film Festival

Dream Horse Screening at USA Film Festival – April 7, 2021

Dream Horse at USAFF51

by Alex Bentley | Dallas Culturemap | April 7, 2021

The USA Film Festival will present its 51st edition in person at the Angelika Film Center in Dallas, April 21-25, going back to its normal April dates after delaying until June in 2020. The festival will include 12 feature films and over 50 short films, starting with the opening night film, Johan von Sydow’s Tiny Tim: King For a Day, a documentary about the eccentric musician/performer. Other feature films will include the documentary Rita Moreno: Just a Girl Who Decided to Go For It; Dream Horse, starring Toni Collette and Homeland’s Damian Lewis; Riders of Justice starring Mads Mikkelsen; the stranger-than-fiction cyber-thriller documentary Enemies of the State; and more.

Dream Horse will air Saturday, April 24, 2021 at 6:30 p.m. Central Standard Time

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Categories Cleveland International Film Festival Dream Horse Film Festival Screenings

Dream Horse Virtual Screening at Cleveland International Film Festival – March 31, 2021

Dream Horse at CIFF45

by Gingersnap | damian-lewis.com | March 31, 2021

The 45th annual Cleveland International Film Festival (CIFF) will run from April 7 – April 20, 2021 via CIFF45 Streams, bringing film home.  Online stream tickets are on sale now here for $10.00. The stream event is only available to those in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Indiana. If you’re one of the lucky ones, here is the direct link to purchase your ticket.

For more information please visit clevelandfilm.org.