Irish writer/director Mark Cogan has a busy few weeks ahead of him as post-production gets underway on two of his short films, and a third short screening at the Boston LGBT Film Festival this weekend.
Cork-native Cogan, of Medicine Hat Films, wrote and directed ‘All Night Long’, a short which displays an intense encounter between two lonely strangers that changes both their lives.
It premiered at the Fastnet Short Film in Schull in May of last year, and went on to be nominated in four different categories at the Underground Cinema Awards. Lead actress Rosie O’Regan picked up the Best Actress Award for her role in the short at the LIT Film Festival last week.
‘All Night Long’ was produced in association with Stormlight Studios in Cork, and stars Rosie O’Regan (The Eclipse) as Margaret and Sebastian Thommen (The Legend of Jonny King) as Max.
The short was shot over three nights at the Imperial Hotel in Cork City on a Canon 7D. Conor Barron of newly established Half-Light Audio in Cork composed an original score and provided audio post-production services.
Barron is currently working on another original score for Cogan’s latest short, ‘Partly Cloudy’, a follow-up to his award-winning 2010 short ‘Heart’. ‘Partly Cloudy’ is the second short in a planned trilogy, and tells the story of Fiona, played by George Hanover, who is trying to deal with the trials and tribulations of being her demanding sister’s bridesmaid.
Fiona was a supporting character in ‘Heart’, the first instalment in the trilogy of shorts, which depicts the life of character Damien who is compelled to follow his heart for one last shot at happiness. ‘Partly Cloudy’ now sees Fiona as the lead character, with other returning characters from Heart’ also featuring.
It was filmed on Ballincollig in Cork over four days. Writer and director Cogan plans to submit ‘Partly Cloudy’ to the festival circuit upon the completion of post-production, which is scheduled to wrap at Half-Light Audio in two weeks.
Cogan wrote and directed both ‘All Night Long’ and ‘Heart’, with Amanda Ferriter (Tom’s Sceadu) producing and Páraic English (A Tale of Three Legs) the director of photography on both films. Cogan also edited the shorts in post-production using Final Cut Pro.
‘Heart’ won the best screenplay award at the Underground Cinema awards in 2010, and has been chosen to screen at the Boston LGBT Film Festival this Sunday.
Cogan has recently finished writing the script for the third short in the trilogy, however he is unsure of its production progress due to funding issues.
For a sneak peek at the trailers for Mark Cogan’s latest films, click here. ‘All Night Long’ will feature online as part of the Cannes Film Festival’s Short Film Corner for three months, and ‘Heart’ will screen as part of the International Shorts Programme at the Boston LGBT Film Festival on Sunday, May 6.
