Film producer with Plymouth ties wins Sundance prize

Patriot Ledger, The (Quincy, MA) - Saturday, February 9, 2008

By Adam Riglian, The Patriot Ledger

It is an honor to be considered for the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival. It's a big surprise to win it.

Producer Chip Hourihan felt that rush of shock and joy when his film, 'Frozen River' was selected as this year's best dramatic feature.

The film focuses on two women's struggles between working minimum-wage jobs and the lucrative world of illegal-immigrant smuggling across the Quebec-New York border.

'Ours was a very small film, so we were very pleased just to get in to Sundance,' Hourihan said. 'We were just so honored by the attention they paid it.'

So unexpected was Hourihan's success, that his parents, Bill and Joan of Plymouth, did not make the trip to Park City, Utah, the ski-resort hot spot that annually plays host to the festival.

'He honestly did not expect to win,' Bill Hourihan said. 'We said to him, 'We'll book a flight out to Park City,' and he said 'don't bother.''

The award, which has been given to such films as 'American Splendor,' 'Blood Simple,' and 'The Brothers McMullen,' was presented to the 'Frozen River' team by actor William H. Macy.

The jury was composed of filmmakers Quentin Tarantino and Mary Harron and actors Diego Luna, Sandra Oh and Marcia Gay Harden.

Hourihan recounted the anticipation on awards night.

'We didn't know in advance, so we were sitting there and I was thinking 'It was an honor just to be here,'' he said.

Tarantino began discussing the winning film without naming it, dropping clues as to what film was chosen.

'When Tarantino said, 'it put my heart in a vice,' that's when I thought 'this could be us.''

Hourihan, who has produced six features planning to shoot two films in Massachusetts, one in New Bedford, the other in Cambridge and Somerville.

The latter film, titled 'Angry Candy' after an E.E. Cummings poem about Cambridge is set to shoot in early 2009.

The proposed Plymouth movie studio project has caught Hourihan's attention. Hourihan lives in Brooklyn, but views Plymouth as one of his hometowns.

'Film studios in a community like Plymouth are a wonderful idea,' Hourihan said. 'Come in to a local place and try to support the craft industry.'

The idea that Hourihan could be back in Massachusetts someday, working on films, is exciting to his father as well.

'I'm sure that would be a real advantage because he loves this area,' Bill Hourihan said.

Adam Riglian may be reached at ariglian@ledger.com.