Lenny Abrahamson: 'There wouldn't be a dress code in Schull!'
Lenny Abrahamson will host two events at Fastnet Film Festival in Schull. Picture: Alberto E Rodriguez/Getty
MANY OF the giants of the movie world may be posing on La Croisette for the Cannes Film Festival, but an increasing number of Irish and international filmmakers are this week making their annual trip to West Cork.
Schull’s Fastnet Film Festival has become one of the most beloved shindigs in Ireland’s movie calendar. With its low-key approach, intimate setting and friendly, inclusive vibe, it could hardly be more unlike the movie juggernaut that is Cannes - and that’s exactly what Ireland’s top filmmakers enjoy about it.
Fastnet’s annual line-up is also highly impressive. Oscar winners and movie royalty again head to Schull in celebration of a remarkable period in Irish screen storytelling, to the festival where the village is the screen. Schull doesn’t have a cinema, meaning the vast shorts programme and new Irish and international features are screened at various venues.
“Cannes is on at the moment but you couldn't have a bigger difference,” says Lenny Abrahamson, the director of Adam & Paul, the Oscar-winning Room and global TV hit Normal People. “There wouldn't be a dress code now in Schull!
“The atmosphere is incredibly warm in the town and the whole town gets involved because as they say, the town is the screen. They're projecting films in cafes and pubs and there's this lovely proper festival atmosphere that just makes it great.
“Then you just have really interesting people turning up partially because people have formed relationships with the festival over the years."
Abrahamson also points to the local residents who've helped the festival through the years - figures such as former director-general of the BBC Greg Dyke, and film producer David Puttnam. "People with fabulous histories in the industry all pitching up to this little town and everybody mixes with everybody. There's no VIP zone. That's another reason why it's very special, because it’s democratic,” says Abrahamson.
Last summer, Abrahamson joined forces with cast and crew from Normal People for a reunion and conversation with actor Paul Mescal following the success of the show. Attendees described it as like listening in on a friendly conversation in the pub. “It does feel like a chat when you’re doing these events in Schull,” says Abrahamson. “If ever there was a place where the word ‘vibe’ applied, I think it would be Fastnet in May. I always look forward to it.”
This year, Abrahamson will host two events that again shine a light on the extraordinary breadth and depth of Irish screen talent. He will host a Q&A with the filmmaking talent behind Oscar-winning short An Irish Goodbye - including actor James Martin.
“It was such a great piece of work and obviously did so incredibly well," says Abrahamson. "Again, I think they will fit beautifully in Schull, because there seems to be a tremendous amount of warmth in and around that project. That will chime with the kind of feeling that you get in Schull, I think they'll have a fabulous welcome there. I'm really looking forward to talking to them and to meeting James.
“I'm also doing an event with Kate McCullough, the excellent director of photography who did An Cailín Ciúin and also the second block of Normal People. I'm facilitating a workshop and a conversation about cinematography with her.”
Since his debut success with Adam & Paul, the Dublin filmmaker has established a reputation as one of Ireland’s greatest screen storytellers. Films have included the poignant tale of a rural worker in Garage, the adventures of an eccentric rock group in Frank, and the tale of a teenager who commits a serious crime in What Richard Did. His adaptation of Emma Donoghue’s powerful novel Room went all the way to the Oscars with four nominations, including Best Picture and Best Director, eventually taking home the top prize for its lead actress Brie Larson.
He currently has a number of projects in development including a drama based on the life of US boxer Emile Griffith, and is writing a project which though fictional, is set around the same environment as his childhood.
“I grew up in a small community in Dublin, a Jewish community. I've been very interested in that experience. I'm writing something which is connected to my parents and their lives and their experiences and memories within that. It's a fictional family, but very much inspired by that.”
Other projects in development include an adaptation of John Boyne’s novel The Heart’s Invisible Furies, in collaboration with Garage screenwriter Mark O’Halloran.
Throughout his career Abrahamson and his producers at Element Pictures, Ed Guiney and Andrew Lowe, have maintained that building a strong indigenous film industry could reap many benefits for Irish storytellers.
He must have been pleased, then, to see the green charge at this spring’s Oscars, with a record-smashing 14 nominations.
“It's brilliant,” he agrees. “We are seeing the fruits and have been over the last few years of a consistent policy of supporting film and television.
“It’s incredibly satisfying to see people like Colm Bairéad come up with a film as wonderful as An Cailín Ciúin. That couldn't be more of a local film, and yet it has this really substantial international footprint and recognition from across the world. I think there's a bigger opportunity than we've so far grabbed - with more forward thinking and active support, the industry could grow a lot more.”
You'd imagine the upcoming festival in Schull will again do its bit to help that growth.
As well as being a major showcase for Irish and international short films, Schull will be abuzz with dozens of events, presentations and screenings over the five days of its 2023 programme.
Irish Language Film Day: Thursday 25th is Irish language day with a series of events taking part on Cape Clear. They include a special screening of An Cailín Ciúin followed by a Q&A with its young star Catherine Clinch, and a walking trail featuring a number of Irish-language shorts.
West Cork on Camera: On Friday 26th, look back on West Cork’s history through a series of archival and contemporary films from the Irish Film Institute film archive. Part I includes rarely-seen newsreel, amateur and professional film from the 1920s to the 1970s. Part II features two shorts: Fathom, Sharon Whooley’s film filmed on Fastnet Lighthouse; and All That Is, Is Light by West Cork filmmaker Pat Collins.
Aidan Quinn: The charismatic Irish-American actor will be the subject of the festival’s main interview with journalist Greg Dyke on Sunday 28th. A number of Quinn’s films - including This is my Father, Legends of the Fall, Songcatcher and The Assignment - will also be screened over the course of the festival.
Family Screenings in the Park: Members of the public can take advantage of the good weather forecast with a series of free public screenings on Sunday 28th from 2-4pm. The programme will include a selection of past and present competition shorts and be followed by a special screening of Cartoon Saloon’s Oscar-nominated Wolfwalkers.
