Leitrim filmmaker takes new comedy to local film festivals
A new short film shot across Leitrim and featuring well-known Irish actors is set to hit the local film festival circuit over the coming weeks.
Carrick-on-Shannon filmmaker Luke Curley’s latest short film, set in 1980s Leitrim, will be screened at a number of festivals after a production which saw local people turn out in force as extras. The film will feature at the Film and Folk Festival in Strandhill, followed by screenings at Adaptation Film Festival, Roscommon International Film Festival and Clones Film Festival.
The comedy follows a television crew which arrives in Leitrim to make a profile about Ireland’s oldest altar boy. Curley came up with the idea and wrote the first draft before co-writing the remainder with Cork collaborator Erlan Green.
The production was filmed at locations including Sacred Heart Church and the Arch Bar in Jamestown, Taylor’s pub and the streets of Drumsna, as well as the Cavan and Leitrim Railway. The cast includes Patrick McDonnell, known for Father Ted, Hardy Bucks star Owen Colgan and Fair City actor Alan Devine, who was once Curley’s drama teacher.
Young actor Dylan Nolan also makes his short-film debut. “It’s the first short film he was ever in, but he’s hilarious,” Curley said. “He’s a complete natural. He’s really, really funny.” Curley said the production became a real community effort, with locals responding to an appeal for extras and vintage vehicles.
“There was such a response to extras, and even when we needed vintage cars and stuff for scenes, everyone was signing up,” he said. “It was really funny because it was like, I’m making a film with my neighbour in it.”
It was also a milestone for Curley as the first of his films to receive funding, after previously self-funding his work. With the film now completed, he hopes the festival screenings can help it reach a wider audience.
“The expected route you’d go on now with short films is you show them in a load of festivals,” he said. “That’s kind of the first step I’m doing now, where you just show it in as many festivals as you can and get a bit of recognition for it.”
Curley said he is particularly interested in continuing to tell stories rooted in his home county. “I’m really interested in setting stories in Leitrim,” he said. “I feel like there aren’t many stories set here.”