(Please note screening time and date may change)
Saipan (2025) by Lisa Barros D’sa & Glenn Leyburn
SYNOPSIS
SAIPAN explores the explosive clash between soccer star Roy Keane and manager Mick McCarthy before the 2002 FIFA World Cup. Their feud, rooted in clashing standards and personalities, erupted on the island of Saipan, shaking the Irish team and nation. As Keane walked out, McCarthy faced chaos. This gripping true story goes beyond sport, it’s a dramatic, often comic tale of leadership, loyalty, and a rivalry that captured global attention.
THE HISTORY
SAIPAN is the complex story of Roy Keane and Mick McCarthy, an internal rivalry between a captain and a coach that bubbled over onto the global stage in epic fashion. This was a feud between two people that transcended the game and gripped an entire nation and the sporting world in the lead up to the FIFA World Cup Finals in 2002. Keane’s headline-grabbing eleventh hour departure from Ireland’s squad briefly transformed the tiny western Pacific Island of Saipan into one of the most famous places on Earth. It left a weakened McCarthy to hold together a crumbling situation without his team’s talisman amidst a wealth of negativity from press and fans alike. It divided a nation, prompting the Taoiseach to offer his services as a mediator. On the surface it was all about standards, but deep down it was a hugely emotive story of two men whose rivalry and contempt came to surpass the sport they loved. An epic real-life drama realized through a dark comedic, SAIPAN is the definitive account of one of the most fractious falling-out’s in the history of sport.
Dark Comedy - 90’
WATCH THE TRAILER BELOW:
OPENING RECEPTION TIMELINE
6:00PM Doors Open for Reception
6:45PM Theater Doors Open, seating begins
7:00PM Opening remarks
7:15PM Film starts
Please note that the reception’s food is included in your ticket price.
Food & alcohol will also be available for purchase at the Tara.
This event is made possible by the Consulate General of Ireland in Atlanta
