10 November 2017
By Bryan Smyth
bryan@TheCork.ie
The winner of Film In Cork’s inaugural Short Script Award, Earthly Bonds, is set to premiere at the upcoming 62nd Cork Film Festival.
Earthly Bonds tells the story of Rosie (Rachel Lynch), a curious and imaginative eight year old girl who is trying to find the Pleiades star system through a telescope. The telescope was a gift from her late mother (Sinead O’Riordan: Dead Along The Way), who promised that she would always be looking over Rosie from there. Rosie is still grieving but her determined and clever mind, along with her sense of childish adventure, transforms the treehouse into a spaceship in the hopes of seeing her mother again. Meanwhile her father, Padraig (Peter Coonan: Love/Hate, Penance), a once playful and creative man, descends into alcoholism. Only through acting together can the two work through their grief.
Written and directed by Alan Dunne, and produced by Eamonn Tutty of Reckoner Productions, Earthly Bonds was the winner of the first ever Film In Cork Short Script Award. In late 2016 Film In Cork, supported by the Arts Offices of Cork City and County Councils, announced details of Short Script Award 2017. Almost 130 scripts were submitted prior to the December deadline, and following a shortlisting process, Alan’s winning project received €8,000 towards the costs of production of his short, along with mentoring and support to assist with locations, production, and devising a festival release strategy.
Scene from film
Speaking about the whole experience of bringing his film to fruition, Alan said “Earthly Bonds is a very personal project to me and one that will stay in my mind for a long time. It was incredible to have won the very first Film In Cork Short Script Award. Through this I was lucky to have such experienced mentors in Steven Davenport, Oonagh Kearney and Michael Kinirons, who made making this film such a great experience. The story was a hard one to film and thankfully I had the skills of an incredible cast and crew who put everything they had into making this what it is. I knew that considering the subject matter, a lot of preparation and research had to go into making it as authentic as possible. I was also lucky enough to have the support of Widow.ie and the Irish Hospice Foundation, who educated me quite a lot to the reality of grief and loss.”
Speaking about his team of actors, Alan said “Working with Peter Coonan was exceptional, his commitment to the role of Rosie’s father, and his ability to dig deep into the character was both exciting and heart-breaking to see come to life. The real star however has to be young Rachel Lynch who just understood everything right away. Working alongside skilled actors like Peter and Sinead O’Riordan wasn’t easy, but Rachel always managed to steal the scene. Overall, every department went above and beyond to make this a truly special film. I’ll always be grateful to every single person who made this film possible, and now that we are preparing for the festival circuit, I hope audiences will enjoy the film just as much as I did making it.”
Earthly Bonds has its Irish premiere at The 62nd Cork Film Festival 2017 on Saturday, November 18th at 1.30pm in The Gate Cinema, Cork City as part of Irish Shorts 6 – Family Adventures.
