Beat the Lotto Ross Whitaker’s Highly Anticipated New Project On Famed Lotto Coup To Have World Premiere At Dublin International Film Festival
The highly anticipated newest feature documentary from award-winning filmmaker Ross Whitaker (Katie; Between Land and Sea), BEAT THE LOTTO, will have its world premiere at the Dublin International Film Festival on Wednesday, 26th February at Light House Cinema, Dublin.
Beat the Lotto charts the true story that captivated Ireland in 1992; the syndicate helmed by mathematician Stefan Klincewicz and their attempt to cover close to two million combinations and guarantee a rollover Lotto jackpot win. Whitaker will be in attendance at the world premiere hosted by Miriam O’Callaghan, and it will be followed by a Q&A.
Beat the Lotto is as audacious as the story it follows; a heist film told by the perpetrators, following Klincewicz and his “shadowy syndicate” who went across the country buying all the lotto combinations available to try to secure their jackpot win – a plan that took months of preparation and proved to be much more difficult than expected. With Whitaker’s signature style, Beat the Lotto is at once a thrilling caper and also a keen examination of 1990s Ireland, the institution that is the National Lottery; and what happened when that trusted system was thrown into turmoil.
Speaking about the film and its upcoming world premiere, Whitaker said “I’m delighted that Beat the Lotto will be having its world premiere at the Dublin International Film Festival. The genesis of this film began over ten years ago, and we ended up having to shoot a lot of it during the COVID-19 lockdown, so it’s been a long journey to get to this moment. Beat the Lotto is a reflection of Ireland in the 1990s, and how the events of the 1992 Lotto heist illuminate who we were then, before Ireland changed so much, so Dublin is a great place for Beat the Lotto to have its debut.”
Whitaker continued, “We wanted to make a film that encouraged people to reflect on what side they take – are they in favour of the syndicate who are trying to beat the system, or the trusted national institution that was a very positive force in 1990s Ireland. It was enjoyable to build the film to an exciting climax and for the audience to wonder who would win out in the end?”
Beat the Lotto was produced by True Films in association with Fís Éireann/Screen Ireland. The film will be released in Irish cinemas later in 2025.
For tickets to the world premiere, see www.diff.ie
