Farrell and Gleeson reunite with Martin McDonagh in Venice

VENICE, Italy — Martin McDonagh has returned to the Venice International Film Festival with “The Banshees of Inisherin,” which is having its world premiere Monday night in competition. It’s his first film since “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri,” and a reunion with his “In Bruges” stars Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson. His character, he said, is the “human manifestation of a little donkey.” Kerry Condon plays Padraic’s sister Siobhan and Barry Keoghan is the tormented young Dominic, who try to help Padraic mend things. The film also marks McDonagh’s first production in Ireland, which he said was “a dream of mine.” They shot mostly in Inishmore, where his father was from. Farrell said it “felt so beautiful to be back where Martin’s plays had been performed.” Venice is a bit of a good luck charm for McDonagh, who in 2017 received the festival’s top screenwriting prize for “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri,” which would go on to be a box office smash, get him a best picture and screenplay nomination at the Oscars and win two acting Oscars for Frances McDormand and Sam Rockwell.