Set against the stunning scenery of Kilmacow, Kilkenny, horror short An Bean Sidhe brings the legend of the Banshee to life with the tale of...
Set against the stunning scenery of Kilmacow, Kilkenny, horror short An Bean Sidhe brings the legend of the Banshee to life with the tale of a young man whose playful pranks take a nasty turn when he attracts the ire of the mythical creature. Directed by award winning director Paul Lynch, the script, by Eoin O'Sullivan, itself won "The Golden Blaster" for Best Screenplay at Octocon 2013, meaning the film had a lot of prestige behind it before cameras started rolling. Ahead of it's premiere in Waterford, where much of the cast and crew call home, I was able to sit down with producer Amy Kirwan, of New Aims Productions, to talk about the project, the appeal of making a movie based on such a famous Irish legend, and any future plans for An Bean Sidhe.
How Did An Bean Sidhe come about?
I found Eoin O'Sullivan on a film network called Stage32.com. He posted a script, and was calling for directors/producers to get the film made. I read An Bean Sidhe (The Banshee), and got in touch with him straight away. So Eoin down from Dublin to meet in my office in Waterford, and I convinced him I could get his film made. We shook hands, and he called me a few days later to inform me that the script had won The Golden Blasters award for best screenplay. I now had an award winning script on my hands, which was a very nice feeling.
The legend of the banshee is one that hasn't had many cinematic outings. What was the appeal of making a movie about it?
Honestly, it was the script. It is a great story, and it gave me the chills reading it. It really grabbed and held my attention, and I've always had a bit of an obsession with Irish Folklore. There were no adjustments that needed to be made to it, I just had to get the ball rolling.
The Banshee hasn't had a big screen prescence since Darby O'Gill, from what I can remember. Zombies have been done to death, and even Draculais making a comeback. And don't get me started on Twilight! I figured this was something different, and having a script that was ready to go just made my decision a lot easier. Making films of any length or genre is no easy task.
Personally, what do you think you can achieve with short form horror as opposed to feature length?
Honestly? Not a lot. I liked the script, and I wanted to make a good little movie about a genre I'm very passionate about, on that hopefully people would enjoy. My aim was to get it made and take it from there, keep it as easy and old school as possible in terms of effects etc. Myself and the director, Paul, had a few other projects in development, and this was something to keep us occupied in between everything else. But of course things never work out that way. It wasn't as easy as organising the film getting it shot and boom, it was done. Everything that could go wrong with that film did go wrong!
I had a close bereavement back in February, so we had to stall the film and push it back to June. In the meantime, one of our crew lost his Aunt to cancer, and the first day we were shooting in June, Paul got a call and was diagnosed with skin cancer!! Add not being able to afford a gaffer, our continuity person having to pull out due to college commitments and health and safety issues with the rain, it was as though the film was cursed! I was so glad to get the shoot wrapped.
Myself, Paul, and Eoin would joke about making a feature, An Bean Sidhe 2: Electric Boogaloo. It was just banter on set, but the more we thought about it, the more feasible it seemed to be. There's budgets for Horror movies. Two of the main genres that have the highest sales in the Irish Box Office are comedy and horror. You'd think after everything we'd been through to get the short made, we would have just ditched the whole Banshee curse, but call us what you will, the more we joked about it, the more we all started to believe we could pull it off. Not without a budget though. Not this time. Not again! Ha!
The setting of the movie adds a lot of atmosphere. How'd you come about the location?
We chose the location wisely. Paul found an image online, an old aerial photo over the small village of Kilmacow, Co. Kilkenny. It looked like it had a lot of charm! It turned out that a couple of people who were helping us out with the film at the time had family there and knew a few locations that might suit.
We took a spin out there, and came across Black Corner, where all the old church scenes were filmed. It was perfect! Creepy, open, spacious, and private. We just knew this was the place, and we got in touch with the local town concillour about shooting there. When we first saw the location in January, it was trimmed back and flattened, not overgrown like it was in the film. We got quite a surprise when we went back in May. The weeds were as tall as we were, yet another challenge had been added to the shoot, but we accepted it and it actually looks great on screen!. Our DP Kieran did a great job. Each shot looks Beautiful.
What are the plans for the movie after it's premiere in November? And will we ever see the feature length An Bean Sidhe?
There's a lot of festivals out there dedicated solely to Horror films, so we're going to aim for those and see where it takes us. With regards a feature? I legally can't mention anything right now, but you never know, what this space.
The premiere takes place on Thursday 6th November at the Theatre Royal, Waterford in aid of the Solas Centre, Waterford. Tickets are €20, which includes entry into the after party at The Reg, with all proceeds going to the Solas Centre. After the screening, there will be a Q&A with Paul Lynch, Amy Kirwan, and Eoin O'Sullivan. Tickets are selling fast, and can be bought at the Theatre Royal website.
How Did An Bean Sidhe come about?
I found Eoin O'Sullivan on a film network called Stage32.com. He posted a script, and was calling for directors/producers to get the film made. I read An Bean Sidhe (The Banshee), and got in touch with him straight away. So Eoin down from Dublin to meet in my office in Waterford, and I convinced him I could get his film made. We shook hands, and he called me a few days later to inform me that the script had won The Golden Blasters award for best screenplay. I now had an award winning script on my hands, which was a very nice feeling.
The legend of the banshee is one that hasn't had many cinematic outings. What was the appeal of making a movie about it?
Honestly, it was the script. It is a great story, and it gave me the chills reading it. It really grabbed and held my attention, and I've always had a bit of an obsession with Irish Folklore. There were no adjustments that needed to be made to it, I just had to get the ball rolling.
The Banshee hasn't had a big screen prescence since Darby O'Gill, from what I can remember. Zombies have been done to death, and even Draculais making a comeback. And don't get me started on Twilight! I figured this was something different, and having a script that was ready to go just made my decision a lot easier. Making films of any length or genre is no easy task.
Personally, what do you think you can achieve with short form horror as opposed to feature length?
Honestly? Not a lot. I liked the script, and I wanted to make a good little movie about a genre I'm very passionate about, on that hopefully people would enjoy. My aim was to get it made and take it from there, keep it as easy and old school as possible in terms of effects etc. Myself and the director, Paul, had a few other projects in development, and this was something to keep us occupied in between everything else. But of course things never work out that way. It wasn't as easy as organising the film getting it shot and boom, it was done. Everything that could go wrong with that film did go wrong!
I had a close bereavement back in February, so we had to stall the film and push it back to June. In the meantime, one of our crew lost his Aunt to cancer, and the first day we were shooting in June, Paul got a call and was diagnosed with skin cancer!! Add not being able to afford a gaffer, our continuity person having to pull out due to college commitments and health and safety issues with the rain, it was as though the film was cursed! I was so glad to get the shoot wrapped.
Myself, Paul, and Eoin would joke about making a feature, An Bean Sidhe 2: Electric Boogaloo. It was just banter on set, but the more we thought about it, the more feasible it seemed to be. There's budgets for Horror movies. Two of the main genres that have the highest sales in the Irish Box Office are comedy and horror. You'd think after everything we'd been through to get the short made, we would have just ditched the whole Banshee curse, but call us what you will, the more we joked about it, the more we all started to believe we could pull it off. Not without a budget though. Not this time. Not again! Ha!
The setting of the movie adds a lot of atmosphere. How'd you come about the location?
We chose the location wisely. Paul found an image online, an old aerial photo over the small village of Kilmacow, Co. Kilkenny. It looked like it had a lot of charm! It turned out that a couple of people who were helping us out with the film at the time had family there and knew a few locations that might suit.
We took a spin out there, and came across Black Corner, where all the old church scenes were filmed. It was perfect! Creepy, open, spacious, and private. We just knew this was the place, and we got in touch with the local town concillour about shooting there. When we first saw the location in January, it was trimmed back and flattened, not overgrown like it was in the film. We got quite a surprise when we went back in May. The weeds were as tall as we were, yet another challenge had been added to the shoot, but we accepted it and it actually looks great on screen!. Our DP Kieran did a great job. Each shot looks Beautiful.
What are the plans for the movie after it's premiere in November? And will we ever see the feature length An Bean Sidhe?
There's a lot of festivals out there dedicated solely to Horror films, so we're going to aim for those and see where it takes us. With regards a feature? I legally can't mention anything right now, but you never know, what this space.
The premiere takes place on Thursday 6th November at the Theatre Royal, Waterford in aid of the Solas Centre, Waterford. Tickets are €20, which includes entry into the after party at The Reg, with all proceeds going to the Solas Centre. After the screening, there will be a Q&A with Paul Lynch, Amy Kirwan, and Eoin O'Sullivan. Tickets are selling fast, and can be bought at the Theatre Royal website.
