Four new shorts from up and coming Northern Irish filmmakers will be produced through the Short Steps development programme under the Deviate Scheme, with each film receiving £10,000 funding from Northern Ireland Screen and the UK Film Council.
The shorts to benefit from the scheme are ‘Call Me Son’, written and directed by Louis McCullagh; ‘Chains’, written and directed by Alanna Riddell; ‘Lonely Hearts Interrupted’, written and directed by Tanya Andrews, and ‘Mysterious Ways’, written by Mark Jordan and directed by Michael Lennox.
‘Call Me Son’ tells the story of 12 year old Carl who is moved from foster home to foster home, until he decides he can take no more. After confiding in his friend he runs away in the middle of the night, putting their friendship to the test.
‘Chains’ follows a day in the life of Joanne, a little girl obsessed with Houdini and perfecting the ultimate escape.
‘Lonely Hearts Interrupted’ tells the story of Beth, who is forced to meet her neighbour for the first time during a blackout, and discovers a man whose welcoming nature and quirky roommate will coax her out of the tight box she has built around herself.
In ‘Mysterious Ways’ a street preacher is challenge to put his faith to the test by an angry young atheist.
The films will be executive produced by Villi Ragnarsson from Red Ray Films.
Short Steps is a short film development scheme that each year offers a number of Northern Ireland’s up and coming filmmakers the chance to develop outline ideas for short digital films, and receive in-depth and focused training in key areas of film production, including script development. The four best projects developed through Short Steps are selected to go into production under the short film production scheme Deviate.
