The trailer for Screen Ireland-backed Focus Short An Encounter has been released ahead of the film’s Irish premiere at the 66th Cork International Film Festival.
This piece is Kelly Campbell’s solo directing debut. It is written by the prolific Mark O’Halloran (Viva, Rialto) and produced by Claire Mc Cabe for Cowtown Pictures.
Freely adapted from the James Joyce short story, An Encounter follows two improbable friends who dodge school and wander freely through Dublin until an encounter with a stranger leaves one of them utterly changed.
The World Premiere took place at the prestigious GwangHwaMun International Short Film Festival (formerly known as the Asiana Film Festival) in South Korea. The film was one of 44 entries out of 5,219 films from 121 countries that have been selected.
It has had its African Premiere at the 10th Jozi Film Festival, South Africa. Johannesburg’s longest running multi-genre film festival.
The Irish premiere will be at Cork International Film Festival on Sunday 7th November at 1pm. The tickets for the physical screening are now sold out but there are still tickets available for the online screenings at the link below: https://2021.corkfilmfest.org/schedule/irish-shorts-2-in-competition-615d891e273bee00696bb68b
Directing this film gave me a cherished opportunity to interpret this evocative story from James Joyce’s Dubliners through the imagination and humanity of Mark O’Halloran’s contemporary adaptation.
The film was captured by DOP Daniel Katz. We were beholden to the burden of Joyce’s literary weight and understood from the outset that our rendering needed particular care and attention. Celluloid was the only choice in this regard and we set about re-constituting an eco-system and discipline that has fallen away somewhat on the island of Ireland; we were not deterred. We shot the film in a hybrid Super 16 anamorphic format on the Arri 416 with Vantage, Hawk lenses on Kodak 50D 7203. The stock and format was chosen for its raw beauty in capturing landscapes with natural light. The emotional texture of film and the intrinsic immediacy that it brings especially served to focus the young actors minds and enhanced the connection to the characters.
Working with this vividly crafted script I wanted to create an experience where the audience fall in love with the city and these two boys along the borderlands. Through hints and insinuations, gaps and silences we explore how childhood and adolescence often present us with moments whose full meaning and import pass us by, and can only be apprehended once we reach awareness.
Kelly Campbell, Director
Music for the film was composed by David Geraghty and it also features original music from Faye O’Rourke, Soda Blonde and Slow Meadow.
An Encounter stars Moses Murphy (Stepping Up) as Stephen, Robert Carney as Jay, and Gary Lydon (Brooklyn, Love/Hate) as the Strange Man .
Photo Credits: Renowned photographer Enda Bowe (Normal People, Love’s Fire Song) collaborated with the production closely on the project bringing his unique vision and perspective to create a body of analogue and digital stills.