Local actors Shine in short movie filmed around East Down

Local actors Shine in short movie filmed around East Down

22 September 2021

LOCAL actors have been lighting up the big screen in a short film that has recently scooped a notable cinematic award.

‘Shine’ wrapped up filming last November after cast and crew spent months shooting in a host of local areas such as Bright and Kilmore, and now it has been crowned the ‘Best Online Short Film’ at the Dublin Underground Film Cinema Festival.

The movie has also been listed as a semi-finalist at this month’s Cannes World Film Festival, where if its success is to continue, will make it through to next year’s final.

The dramatic tale tells the story of Nick, a young man who lacks confidence in expressing his dreams to his traditional family, and who is tasked with balancing his work life with helping his father on their family farm.

Part-time director, writer and actor Declan Curran from Attical, drafted in favours from family members and friends to help bring his debut production to life.

The film was an unfunded, therefore it was created with a very limited number of cast and crew.

Declan (28) described filming in his uncle’s “hundreds of years-old cottage” in Bright as an “outer body experience”, but it was just one of the many things included in the 18-minute long flick which was close to his heart.

“I couldn’t be more grateful to my family and friends for their commitment, time and effort of the course of making this film,” he said.

“I would never have been able to make this dream of mine a reality without them, there’s loads of personal touches included in the film.”

The upcoming talent had the help of Bright natives Jimmy and John McIlmail (Declan’s great uncle and uncle) who star in roles as ‘Father Hughes’ and ‘Johnny’.

Speaking about Jimmy’s role as the priest, Declan says despite his great uncle being completely new to the acting world, “there was no better man for the job”.

“I actually had Jimmy in mind when I wrote the character of Father Hughes, so it just made sense to me that he was the one to portray him,” he said.

“The priest appears in a bus with myself [Nick] during the film, and I actually was wearing my late granddads cap in that scene while my mother Dolores made the priest collar Jimmy was wearing, so it was very family orientated.

“Due to Covid-19 we faced a difficult year in filming, so we had to try find ways around things for shooting. For that particular scene, we approached Kilmore Coach Hire who drove us around the village until we got what we needed.”

The cast and crew also filmed inside Bright Parish Church before they set off to allow a christening to take place.

“We were lucky the farmer who owned the surrounding fields was so generous in allowing us to film, as well as the church minister,” said Declan.

“It was kindness such as this from the locals which allowed us to make this happen.”

The McIlmail duo were not the only local faces who appeared in the award winning short, as Newcastle’s Sandra Brown portrays ‘Maggie’ and Crossgar’s Chris Heath takes up the role of ‘Eamon’.

Notably, not all of these cast members have actually met each other in person. Due to the restrictions in place, actors only met if they were in the same scene.

Declan’s cousin, Arón Holden from Downpatrick, was the editor for the film who helped piece each scene together. Arón also introduced Declan to a number of others who assisted in creating the short, and therefore was referred to as “an invaluable help” by the young director.

The short continues to enter numerous film festivals in the hopes of adding more honours, including ceremonies in England, Scotland and the USA.

Meanwhile, Declan is currently directing a new feature length film based in Belfast named ‘The Trick Room’, which entails the story of a cross-community cricket team.

To keep up to date with the latest news surrounding Shine, visit @shine_shortfilm on Instagram or check out https://www.imdb.com/title/tt13384974/.