AS part of St. David’s Day celebrations, BBC Wales premières BAFTA Cymru award-winning Set Fire to the Stars on UK television, showcasing Welsh talent both on and off screen.
Inspired by the life of Dylan Thomas and set in 1950s New York, this mesmerising film, directed by Pembroke Dock-born Andy Goddard, stars Elijah Wood as John Malcolm Brinnin and Anglesey actor Celyn Jones in the role of Thomas.
Brinnin is an impressionable young Harvard graduate and poet who encounters his idol, the infamous Welshman Thomas, and is dragged into his chaotic world.
Having invited Thomas to New York to start a cross country poetry tour of the most prestigious college campuses in America, Brinnin is overwhelmed by the wayward genius. They decamp to a cabin in Connecticut, but will Brinnin succeed in containing Thomas’ destructive impulses?
A spellbinding score by Gruff Rhys sets the mood and enhances the film’s sophisticated aesthetic.
The BAFTA Cymru award-winning Set Fire to the Stars, will sit at the heart of BBC Wales’ St David’s Day schedule for its UK TV premiere on Wednesday, March 1.