THE critically acclaimed documentary 'Bobby Sands 66 Days' has become one of the widest released documentaries in Irish cinema history and will open at a further 16 theatres today.
The film, based on the life of IRA hunger striker Bobby Sands, is heading into its third week of release and is now playing at 41 cinemas across Ireland.
In the north further screenings have been added for the controversial documentary in Omagh, Downpatrick, Armagh and Craigavon.
Since its release '66 days' has proven hugely popular with cinema goers recording the Republic's highest opening weekend returns for an Irish-made documentary. In the north it came fifth in the box office chart for opening weekend, with more cinema-goers seeing the documentary than viewing Star Trek and Ghostbusters.
Written and directed by Ardoyne-born director Brendan Byrne the documentary is based around extracts from the late republican's prison diaries as read by west Belfast actor Martin McCann.
The 27-year-old IRA man died after 66 days on hunger strike in the Maze prison in May 1981.
East Derry’s Sinn Féin MLA Caoimhe Archibald has welcomed the additional Irish screenings of the "important" documentary.
Since its release 66 Days has attracted criticism in some unionist quarters after receiving tens of thousands of pounds in public funding from the BBC and Northern Ireland Screen.
Tom Elliott, the MP for Fermanagh and South Tyrone, the constituency where Sands was elected just month before his death, labelled the decision to screen the film in Enniskillen as "divisive".
