Francis Lee’s upcoming film, God’s Own Country, follows sheep farmer Johnny Saxby as he reluctantly works with Gheorghe, a Romanian worker.

Sundance describes the film’s premise:

“Spring. Yorkshire, England. Johnny Saxby, a 25-year-old sheep farmer, has sacrificed going away to college or getting a job in town to run the family farm for his ailing father, Martin (Ian Hart), and stoic grandmother Deirdre (Gemma Jones), numbing the daily frustration of his desolate life with binge drinking and casual sex. As lambing season approaches, Martin hires a Romanian migrant worker, Gheorghe, to assist the already exhausted Johnny. Johnny bitterly resents Gheorghe, stubbornly insisting he can cope on his own, but Gheorghe proves he not only understands this farming life, but more importantly, he understands Johnny.”

The film has already wowed audiences at Sundance and GAZE this year, winning the Sundance World Cinema Directing Award: Dramatic and the Galway Film Fleadh Award  for Best International First Feature.

It’s a British ‘Brokeback Mountain’ with proper gay sex

GCN Editor Brian Finnegan saw God’s Own Country, which closed the GAZE Dublin International Film Festival last week, praising the film’s candidness.

“It’s a British Brokeback Mountain with proper gay sex and real tenderness and I loved it,” Finnegan said of the movie.

He went on to indicate that the film outshines Brokeback in one key area, specifically, the euphemism-free, true-to-life portrayal of gay sex on screen.

There’s no allusions to sex, no “curtains blowing in the wind,” it’s real.

Despite being a little more daring when it comes to sex scenes, this film is not overly preoccupied with the character’s sexuality.

“It’s not about being gay at all, whereas Brokeback Mountain is,” Finnegan said.

Having screened at film festivals across the globe this year, God’s Own Country is getting a UK and Irish cinema release on September 1, 2017.

Check out the trailer for the film below:

‘God’s Own Country’ will be released in Irish cinemas on September 1, 2017.