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Effi O Blaenau review Pat Byrne – Glasgow Film Festival 2026

Marc Evans’ Welsh language film Effi O Blaenau had its world premiere at Glasgow Film Festival 2026. An adaptation of Gary Owen’s critically acclaimed play, Iphigenia in Splott,  Evans shifts the location to Blaenau Ffestiniog, a rundown town in rural North Wales. This is where we meet Effi (Leisa Gwenllian) an angry young woman who spends her time drinking vodka, clubbing and recovering from hangovers that are “brain-shredding three day bastards”.

Our initial impression of Effi is of a loud-mouthed abrasive young woman full of bravado; shouting in the street, hitting out at her Nan (Carys Gwillym) and insulting her neighbour, who sees Effi as ‘a slag’. She has no respect for Kev (Owen Alun), her kindly drug dealing partner of sorts and her existence seems stark, unhappy and turbulent.

Things change dramatically for Effi when she hooks up with Lee ((Tom Rhys Harries) an injured ex-soldier, in a club in Llandudno. When she responds to him with consideration and tenderness, we see a new side to Effi. Animated and hopeful a different world could be opening up for her but she is faced with both major decisions and dramatic challenges.

Leisa Gwenllian is fantastic in the role of Effi, and we get to know the character very well as we are drawn into the sadness and complexity of her character.  The film offers no backstory and leaves plenty of room for the audience to surmise how Effi’s nature has been shaped and how she has arrived at this point in her life. Any hint at a working life is non-existent and her only close relation is her Nan.

Set against the socio-economic harshness of an area of deprivation, Evans shows how lives are blighted by institutionalised poverty and lack of an adequate health service. In juxtaposition we see the beauty through the tranquility of its quiet rivers and pleasant countryside, creating a very different atmosphere.

Delivered primarily in the Welsh language, the film is authentic, poignant and thought-provoking, with a vibrant and complex main character. Effi may test your inclination towards the judgemental but Evan’s film will also make you ponder on the value of humanity and kindness.

Pat Byrne, Review March, 2026

The film will go on general release in UK and Ireland in June, 2026.

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