How it’s New York: Film Premiere in New York City
How it’s Irish: Written and Directed by Northern Irishman Colin Broderick
This year’s New York Craicfest Film Fest featured a number of the recent releases of films from Ireland, including the directorial debut of John Connors with the riveting docudrama “Endless Sunshine on a Cloudy Day” and the atmospheric and chilling Irish language film on the famine times “Arracht”. But the stand-out was the 2nd film from County Tyrone-New York based writer and director Colin Broderick “A Bend in the River”.
This semi-autobiographical story takes Broderick back to his native Altamuskin, County Tyrone along with his central character, a writer, returning home. We watch as the main character Matt navigates the remnants of his youth and the twists and turns they bring.
Filmed by acclaimed cinematographer Shane Kelly, also from Northern Ireland, there is a wonderful connection between the surrounding landscape and the characters, with the terrain and the wind playing an integral part in many moments of the film. We are at one moment walking with Matt along the hilltops and the next engulfed into a forest of trees with the wind whipping around with the memories in Matt’s head. All of this is beautifully captured by Kelly, with gorgeous drone footage from a local that he took under his wing. It also features a glorious musical score from Irish composer and fiddle phenom Colm Mac con Iomaire.
I had the opportunity to sit down with Colin and ask him about the experience of making the film, and here is a snippet of our discussion:
NYIA: You draw a lot from your life in your writing. How close would you say is Matt’s experience to your own?
Colin: “Emotionally, I would say his experience says everything that I wanted to say. The movie for me was an exploration. A way of me addressing my own feelings of exile. I was working out how to articulate those things as I made the movie. Right through the editing process. Those little pieces of poetry you hear throughout the movie, I wrote those after the movie was shot, while we were working in the editing room.
I wanted to use the writer as my vehicle to fully convey the experience. It’s a strange movie to make because, number 1, how do you ask for financing when you’re trying to explain to people that you’re not quite sure yet what the movie is? Number 2, how do you convince them that it’s really about poetry and nature?”
NYIA: So that leads me directly into my next question. Did you find it at all difficult in going home? Or was it a breeze?
Colin: “It was terrifying. I knew that I was taking a huge gamble. It wasn’t like I’m going home to shoot a vampire movie or a romantic comedy. I’m going home to shoot a movie in Northern Ireland that says something about Northern Ireland, and that’s a very, very tricky thing to do, if you’re from Northern Ireland. You’re going to be judged very harshly, because things can still be very sensitive there and people really care about how they’re portrayed. They still care about secrecy. Am I going to say something that’s not going to make them look good? So there was a lot of that sort of weight on my shoulders of needing to honor the community. If the community doesn’t like the movie, then the movie isn’t good. So, that had to be at the back of my mind. The whole process was, how do I make a movie that shows us honestly, scabs and all, but also honors who we are in a way that is globally acceptable? The message needs to be universal.
Once I was home the community, rose up and embraced me. They just said, ‘we got you! whatever it is you need, you need a tractor, you need a farm, you need a car’. People were just giving me whatever I needed. The local priest, said ‘go shoot in the church’. The GAA club said ‘Go shoot in Dunmoyle.’ It was the last morning and we were shooting the game scene and only seven players showed up. We had to shoot the thing to make it look like there was a match. I could see everybody looking at me because we had the whole local community in the stands. They were all thinking ‘this is gonna look like crap, there’s no game!’. And I’m running up and down the stands telling them ‘Cheer!’ We sent a drone guy back when there was a full match going on so that in the film you’re actually looking down at a full game going on.”
The film features a number of familiar faces from Broderick’s earlier feature “Emerald City” with John Duddy (Matt Donnelly) John McConnell (Father Gerry Donnelly), Brendan Broderick (Declan Hughes) and the wonderful Northern Irish actress Kathy Kiera Clarke (Katie Hughes) whom you may recognize from the popular series “Derry Girls.” I asked Colin about the process of finding Kathy for the pivotal role of the girl who formerly held Matt’s heart:
Colin: I went to Ireland, with no leading lady. We were two weeks before shooting and my producer was freaking out. I had seen so many people, and I just hadn’t found the right person. Then my producer came up with the idea of Kathy Kiera Clarke, and I thought, that’s really interesting! She was just great! She’s from Northern Ireland and she could totally identify with her role and the character. It was a very vulnerable thing for her, too. A woman who stays with a man who is, in all practical terms, abusive. But to have that sort of love for somebody like that. That you’re in it for 20 years or life, that there’s forgiveness that goes along with that sort of commitment. She was just really, really good. It’s all that messiness that’s really human. ”
While it is a sometimes difficult journey for Matt, navigating old relationships, mourning lost loved ones, and confronting difficult times from the past there is a beautiful story of the often unexpressed love between brothers. Broderick shows everyone in their truest sense, and makes us want to go along on the ride with them.
The look of the film gives us all the glory of the rolling hills of Tyrone and the simplicity of the things that are dearest to us about the places we call home. Standout performances come from Brendan Broderick as the brash and rough IRA man and John Connors as his sidekick in a much different role for Connors. Both have moments where they shine throughout the film.
The true star is John Duddy, who gives an intense performance as Matt, making us want to know what is going on inside his head and whether he will stay or return home to turn all these experiences into his next book.
Currently they are working with distributor Indie Rights and Broderick plans to have a full blown premiere back in Altamuskin once the film is globally released. Until then you can keep informed on the progress by visiting http://www.colinbroderick.com
You can also check out his most recent book “Church End” which is available on Amazon, and he is currently working on a new one titled “Woodstock Goes to Hollywood.”
