At
next week's Galway Film Fleadh, a five minute film will be premiered
to the viewing public. Nothing particularly eventful about this,
there are plenty of films being shown. It's a film festival after
all.
The title of this short
may raise an eyebrow or two though, it does have a tendency to jump
out at you from the page of film listings. It's called 'The Spa'
These are politically
correct times we live in. Surely a film of such a name would be
in poor taste? Well this film was written by somebody with a disability,
directed by somebody with a disability, in fact all the people in
front and behind the camera have a disablity.
Stephen Olwill wrote
the self-effacing script, which tells of a wheelchair user's vain
attempts to get past a bouncer into a niteclub with his brother.
Short, dark and surreal, the film was directed by Donal Coghlan
and stars Stephen as our hero. This tale unequivocally tackles the
issue of disablity access.
The film is presented
by 'Lights! Disablity! Action!', a Dublin-based film course set-up
exclusively for individuals with a disablity.
This course has been
running since last September with a view to promoting education
and equality in the film industry. It runs till November. A hands-on
course which comprises all the elements dedicated to filmmaking.
Late last week the course
unveiled to a select group the three short films they had been working
on since January, to great success. Those attending saw 'The Spa',
as well as the other two films 'Handy Andy' (written by Donal Coghlan
and directed by Sean Hamill) and 'Clever Bastards' (written by John
Owens and directed by Stephen Olwill). The participants all worked
on each other's films and in some cases starred in them too.
The films had gone into
production in February and were shot back to back on location around
Dublin. Digital post-production finished at the end of April.
All three films, were
shot over three days each, and later digitally edited. To make it
harder for them, the groups were only given a 3-1 shooting ratio.
To the uninitiated this means the crew could only have three takes
for each shot. So if somebody fluffed their lines or moved the wrong
way, then they only had two more chances to get it right. Sounds
tough? Well that's the film business for you, but due to their professionalism
they pulled it off masterfully.
You can meet the cast
and crew at the screening of 'The Spa' during the Film and Arts
Festival. It is well worth having a look at. As soon as the participants
return from Galway they begin work on their next film, which begins
filming in September. Look out for it at the start at the end of
the year.
PL June 1999