Love in Kilnerry is a 2022 American romantic comedy film written, produced, and directed by Daniel Keith in his directorial debut. The film stars Keith, Kathy Searle, Roger Hendricks Simon, James Patrick Nelson, Sybil Lines, Sheila Stasack, and Tony Triano. The first draft edit of the film played to peers in the US on October 18, 2019, at the New Hampshire Film Festival and the San Diego International Film Festival simultaneously. The film went through two more years of edits and reshoots before being completed in 2021. Archway Pictures released the film theatrically in North America in limited cities starting April 8 and a wide release on May 13, 2022.
The comedy's narrative is focused on the fictional town of Kilnerry, New Hampshire, whose residents panic after the Environmental Protection Agency informs them that mandatory changes to their chemical plant could dramatically increase their sexual libido.
Plot
The small sleepy remote town of Kilnerry struggles as most of the residents are elderly and the younger ones will be going off to college soon. When a representative from the EPA visits the town's quarterly townhall meeting to tell them their chemical plant has been polluting the waters and creating toxic fish, they learn a new mandatory process, called P172, must be adapted by the plant. However, there is one small side effect. When exposed to P172, laboratory rats have shown a dramatic increase in sexual libido. The residents panic and chaos ensues. The sheriff struggles to maintain order over the following months as chaos and mayhem ensue; a catastrophic orgy attempt, indecent exposure, the priest becomes a nudist to be closer to God, and some of the more decrepit residents compete in a dance competition with a risqué performance. Just as the sheriff has reached his breaking point in an effort to control everyone and keep the town from changing, the EPA returns to inform them that they discovered the rats had been used in a previous pheromone test and that P172 has no side effects. Plagued with guilt, they realize that by thinking they had no control, they learned to open up, accept others, throw caution to the wind and live again, and fall in love. The sheriff is faced with his actions and apologizes to the town. The residents go on to embrace a new life and create new destinies.
Cast
Daniel Keith as Gary O'Reilly, the town sheriff
Kathy Searle as Nessa Ward, the corky paper shop owner
Roger Hendricks Simon as Fergal O'Reilly, the town postman
James Patrick Nelson as Father Wesley O'Dell
Debargo Sanyal as Rakesh Nibhanupudi, a spokesperson from the Environmental Protection Agency Tony Triano as Jerry Boylan, the town mayor and pub owner Sybil Lines as Aednat McLaughlin, a religious reclusive widow Sheila Stasack as Brigid Kerry, the town gossip and general store owner
Production and distribution
Development
Love in Kilnerry was originally a play, written by Keith, that takes place in the fictional town of Kilnerry in County Donegal. It was a challenge presented to him by Royal Shakespeare Company alumnus Sybil Lines (who went on to play Aednat McLaughlin). Keith wanted to write something that would make his grandmother laugh. He used a pen name, Colin Filmore, so the actors could approach the material more honestly as to not be intimidated by the writer present. The play was workshopped in front of audiences at Manhattan Theater Club Studios in New York City for most of 2016. It wasn't until 2017, when Keith wrote the story as a screenplay, that the cast learned who the real writer was. Keith traveled up and down the east coast looking at dozens of small towns until he found a postcard of Portsmouth. Upon visiting the small seaside town, Keith knew he had found "[his] Kilnerry". Daniel Keith, Roger Hendricks Simon, Sybil Lines, and Sheila Stasack, who had workshopped the play in 2016, continued on to the film. Keith requested that all the cast were theater actors since he wanted the film to have a theater-esque and storybook look and feel about it.