Wildflower
Premise
Following the death of her mother, 11-year-old Fiadh moves from Dublin to the Connemara countryside to live with her aunt and uncle. Struggling with life in her new family, she is convinced that running away would be the best solution to her problems. But realises that she is there to stay and must cope with her emotions.
Genre: Family Relationships, Drama
Pages: 14
Writer’s Statement
‘Wildflower’ is a personal drama about family love and the way in which families can reshape and grow. It is a story about the resilience of the human spirit in the face of loss and grief.
The story follows Fiadh, who has been sent to live with her uncle’s family after her mother’s death. Starting with her arrival and following her over the course of her first weekend, we are brought into the family’s domestic world with its daily chores and routines. While the family welcome her into their home with open arms, Fiadh is withdrawn and finds it difficult to cope with her emotions and adapt to her new environment.
Thematically, the story is driven by Fiadh’s desire for order. The desire to feel safe, connect and belong. When she gets to her new home, she goes into survival mode, she is emotionally frozen and needs to learn to deal with her own feelings and gain the trust of her new family, in order to love and be loved again. Although ‘Wildflower’ touches on childhood tragedy, it is not simply about a girl who loses her mother and goes to live with relatives. It is not about death. It is about the opposite, life. This is a story infused with quiet moments of observation, the gentle tensions within family life, and simple acts of kindness. It contrasts the darker side of childhood innocence with the simple joys of being a child.
‘Wildflower’ is inspired by Hirokazu Kore-eda’s transcendental style of cinematic storytelling, grounded in moments of everyday life and the way in which he explores the idea of home and what it means to be a family. ‘Wildflower’ combines a gentle, naturalistic approach to storytelling with an Italian neo-realism aesthetic, in which we see a fragile new household on the edge of running aground.
In writing ‘Wildflower’, I wanted to create a film with an evocative and poetic flavour. The film uses visual metaphor through the recurring image of wildflowers. At the beginning, the pressed wildflowers in the notebook represent the past and everything Fiadh has lost. As the events of the film move forward, the meaning behind the image changes. Through her cousin Lily’s compassion, wildflowers become the means by which Fiadh is able to connect with her new family. Finally, following Fiadh’s realisation that she is there to stay and she stands at the water’s edge, casting wildflower petals into the sea is a means of release.
‘Wildflower’ is a luminous film that contains both sadness and hope at the same time. It is told through an authentic lens, in which the audience is invited to witness Fiadh’s experience of her reality, to see Fiadh’s world through her eyes. It is a delicate portrait in which we see her experiencing all the confusing emotions that make us human. It is a story in which we are left with the feeling that there is always the possibility of hope and courage and the promise of future joy.
Award Winner:
- Best Short Script, Immagina Florence International Film Festival, Italy
- Best Narrative Screenplay, Silk Road Film Awards, Cannes, France
- Best Short Screenplay, Beyond the Curve International Film Festival, France
Official Selections:
- Finalist, Castillonnes Film Festival, France
- Finalist, Rome Prisma Film Awards, Italy
- Semi-Finalist, San Francisco Arthouse Short Festival, United States
- Semi-Finalist, Waterford International Film Festival, Ireland
- Semi-Finalist, Sedona International Film Festival, United States
- Semi-Finalist, Omaha Film Festival, United States
- Official Selection, Brno Film Festival, Czechia
- Official Selection, Theta Short Film Festival, Italy
Night Shift
Premise
Lanya, a shy immigrant worker, falls asleep on the last metro home and wakes up on the other side of the city. Afraid and alone, she navigates the eerily silent backdrop of a city asleep. Until she meets Roisin, a fast-food delivery cyclist taking a break. The two girls shoot the breeze over a coffee, then take on the world. Two strangers, on the margins of society.
Genre: Drama
Pages: 15
Writer’s Statement
The story follows Lanya, a young Kurdish refugee who spends her nights cleaning offices in the financial district of Dublin. She is an outsider, the type of person you are aware of but rarely, if ever, engage with. Like many immigrants, she works hard and looks forward to the promise of a better life in her adoptive country.
Set against the eerily quiet backdrop of a sleeping city, ‘Night Shift’ is a film in which the city is the antagonist. It’s a pensive, otherworldly landscape with a slightly dream-like quality. It would have been easy to push this story into the realm of nightmare, to exaggerate the situation for darker purposes. But that is not the story I want to tell. ‘Night Shift’ is not simply about someone who falls asleep on a train and wakes up on the other side of the city. This is a story of subtle changes of emotion and finer gradations of darkness and light. Like all good short films, within its simple story it contains a deeper message.
The film uses visual metaphor, through the recurring image of the city at night. At the beginning, the bright city lights represent possibility, luxury and progress. But as the story unfolds, the meaning behind the image changes. The city is no longer seen in a positive light. Instead, it is a source of anxiety and fear, it represents alienation, isolation and disconnection.
Lanya’s journey is one of transformation, from isolation to connection, victim to saviour. Although her physical journey seemingly keeps her as an outsider, her emotional journey, brought about by the nocturnal encounter with fellow outsider Roisin, brings with it the realisation that she is not isolated and alone in the city.
‘Night Shift’ does not mourn the downsides of life. Instead, it explores an everyday corner of life, with the intimacies, adventures and relationships that can make you happy, leaving all the sadness, melancholy and guilt behind, at least temporarily. We are left with the feeling that there is always the possibility of goodness and beauty, even in the darkness of night.
Awards:
- Best Short Screenplay, Jacques Tati Film Awards, France
- Best Short Screenplay, Rome Prisma Film Awards, Italy
- Best Short Script, 8 & Halfilm Awards, Italy
- Best Short Screenplay, Beyond the Curve International Film Festival, France
- Best Short Screenplay, Auber International Film Festival, France
Official Selections:
- Finalist, Stockholm Film & Television Festival, Sweden
- Finalist, Kerry International Film Festival, Ireland
- Award Nominee, Love and Hope International Film Festival, Barcelona, Spain
- Award Nominee, Changing Face International Film Festival, Sydney, Australia
- Award Nominee, 4th Dimension Independent Film Festival, Bali
- Honorable Mention, Florence Film Awards, Italy
- Honorable Mention, Silk Road Film Awards, Cannes, France
- Semi-Finalist, Santa Barbera International Screenplay Awards, United States
- Official Selection, Kerala Short Film Festival, India
- Official Selection, Siren Screenwriting Festival, Australia
- Official Selection, Mediterranean Film Festival, Cannes, France