Priest

Priest is a 1994 film, written by Jimmy McGovern and directed by Antonia Bird. It stars Linus Roache as a newly appointed priest, Father Greg Pilkington, who has been sent to an inner-city Liverpool parish. Father Greg must come to terms with his homosexuality when he begins a physical relationship with a man called Graham, played by Robert Carlyle. Whilst he is conducting confession he learns that a student named Lisa, played by Christine Tremarco, is being abused by her father. Unable to break the seal of the confessional he tries to warn Lisa’s mother but cannot without breaking his priestly vows. When Father Greg’s sexuality is revealed publically when he and Graham are caught having sex in a parked car, he is shunned by his parishioners, only finding acceptance from Lisa who he had unsuccessfully tried to protect from the abuse she’d suffered. In 1994 the film was nominated for the BAFTA for Best British Film and won Best New British Feature at the Edinburgh International Film Festival, the People’s Choice Award at the Toronto International Film Festival, and in 1995 won the Teddy Award at the Berlin International Film Festival.