Two Irish feature films and one Irish short are heading to Austin, Texas as part of the official selection of the South by Southwest Film Festival (SXSW) 2022. Both Antonia Campbell-Hughes’ debut feature It Is In Us All and Brendan Muldowney’s feature horror The Cellar will receive their World Premiere at the international festival, with It Is In Us All selected in competition for Narrative Feature and The Cellar screening in the Midnighters section. They are joined by Rioghnach Ní Ghrioghair’s short horror Don’t Go Where I Can’t Find You, which screens in the Midnight Short Film Competition.
Written and directed by Antonia Campbell-Hughes, It Is In Us All stars Cosmo Jarvis and Rhys Mannion. A formidable man who cares for nothing is forced to confront his self-destructive core when a violent car crash involving a sexually charged boy who epitomises life, challenges him to face his truth.
It Is In Us All, my first film as writer/director will have its premiere at SXSW in main competition. This has been a process of so many years of learning and experience on the film sets of artistic creators – a decade long curation. I have so many people to thank. All the cast and crew who helped bring this to be, in the oddest of years. Heroics.
Antonia Campbell-Hughes, Writer/Director – It Is In Us All
It Is In Us All is produced by Emma Foley, Tamryn Reinecke and Conor Barry for Pale Rebel Productions and Savage Productions. The film was funded through Screen Ireland’s POV scheme for female filmmakers, aiming to foster distinct Irish female voices through the development and production of a low-budget feature film.
Irish horror film The Cellar is written and directed by Brendan Muldowney and stars Elisha Cuthbert and Eoin Macken. Keira Woods’ daughter mysteriously vanishes in the cellar of their new house. She soon discovers there is an ancient and powerful entity controlling their home that she will have to face or risk losing her family’s souls forever.
I’m honoured and excited to have our first screening of The Cellar at the Midnighters section in SXSW. I’d like to thank the amazing cast and crew, and our backers, Screen Ireland, Epic Pictures, WRAP Fund, Wallimage and BCP.
Brendan Muldowney, Wrier/Director – The Cellar
The Cellar is an Irish/Belgian co-production with Conor Barry of Savage Productions and Richard Bolger of Hail Mary Pictures serving as producers. It is co-produced with Benoit Roland from Wrong Men in Belgium. Patrick Ewald of Epic Pictures, Lesley McKimm, Screen Ireland and Patrick O’Neill, Wildcard Distribution are Executive Producers on the project. Production investment was provided by Screen Ireland, Epic Pictures, BCP Asset Management, The Western Region Audiovisual Producers Fund / WRAP Fund and Wallimage, BNP Paribas Fortis Film Finance, VOO & BETV. Wildcard Distribution will release the film in Irish cinemas next year.
Margaret, a composer, suffers a catastrophic loss when her partner meets a violent end. Freya believed there were spirits in the house – and the pursuit plunged her to her death. In the silence of grief, Margaret becomes obsessed with a recording of Freya’s fatal fall – and something shifts in the house. Someone is still there….
Don’t Go Where I Can’t Find You is written and directed by Rioghnach Ní Ghrioghair and stars Marie Ruane (Broken Law, Rapt) as Margaret, Juliette Crosbie (Lucky in Love, The Other Lamb) as Louise, and dancer/actor/singer Stephanie Dufresne (As Luck Would Have It) as Freya.
Don’t Go Where I Can’t Find You is produced by Claire Mc Cabe for Samson Films, with the support of Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council’s First Frames short film scheme and Creative Europe MEDIA slate funding.
The three films join previous successful Irish films that have debuted at SXSW in recent years, including Kieron J. Walsh’s Tour-de-France cycling drama The Racer (2020), Mike Ahern and Enda Loughman’s horror comedy Extra Ordinary (2019) and Pat Collins’ documentary Song of Granite (2017).
SXSW 2022 takes place in Austin, TX from March 11th – 19th.