THE FILM WITH one of the most surprising gender plot twists of all times is 20 years old this year. When The Crying Game was released in 1992, its distributors asked reviewers and audiences to keep the twist a secret and – almost unheard of now – they did.

Director Neil Jordan is to attend a 20th anniversary celebration of the movie at Dublin’s Lighthouse cinema tomorrow evening. He will also discuss the film afterwards on stage at the IFTA-organised event. The Crying Game starred Stephen Rea as an IRA volunteer who gets involved in a botched hostage situation and has to flee to London. The film won 26 international awards including an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay for Jordan.

Jordan said that The Crying Game “was one of those films nobody wanted to make”. He put this down to the combination of themes he explored – “terrorism, politics, race, sexuality, gender”. He said that at the time he was asked to change the ending to make it more palatable to a general audience.

Bob and Havey Weinstein, who worked as producers, said this week:

We will forever feel honoured to be associated with The Crying Game. Bringing a film to audiences that artfully explores in equal measure themes of race, gender, nationality, and sexuality is a rarity, and we are happy to see that people are just as moved by the film 20 years later.

Jordan is off to the Toronto Film Festival this week to present the premiere of his new film Byzantium. Unfortunately, this screening of The Crying Game is only open to IFTA members but highlights from Jordan’s talk will be featured here.