Local man’s film selected for Dublin international festival

A film shot entirely in Westmeath by a Mullingar-born filmmaker has been selected for showing at the Dublin International Film Festival, which opens this Thursday, February 20, and runs until March 2.

Upper Current, which was both written and directed by Gregory O’Reilly, will be showcased as part of the DIFF Shorts programme, under the Shut Your Eyes and See category, a segment exploring profound emotional landscapes, confronting death with rawness and vulnerability.

Twenty-five-year-old O’Reilly is a graduate of Film from IADT with a specialisation in directing, and the film – his second – film follows a driver who accidentally kills a cyclist on the road and then tries to dispose of the body in the sea.

Shot entirely by drone, the 5-minute 35-second film is eerie, unique, and explorative of a new perspective.

The film was shot in full within Mullingar, mostly along the N4 and on Lough Owel, says Gregory, who explains that in the film, he set out to explore the unseen forces that shape our lives – forces we rarely examine but that profoundly influence our thoughts, actions, and identities.

“Are these forces moral? Do they deliver justice? Are they truly impartial? And perhaps most importantly, do they even exist?” are the questions his film probes.

The synopsis of the film reads: “On a desolate stretch of the N4, a driver makes a fatal error: after a driver strikes a cyclist in the dead of night, he impulsively hides the body, determined to erase any trace of the accident.

“By dawn, he’s taken drastic measures, anchoring his fishing boat with the body concealed onboard, heading out into the vast and indifferent expanse of the open sea.

“In the dim, early light, his plan to dispose of the evidence begins to unravel. A single mistake – a dropped paddle – forces him into the water.

“The tide shifts against him, pulling him farther from the boat and deeper into an unforgiving current.

“As the night fades to morning, only the boat remains, adrift in an eerie calm, the weight of his decisions left to float in silence.”