Mullingar youth film shows what can be done on a limited budget
A film made in Mullingar by a small team of local teenagers that is due to première next week shows what can be done with a small budget and a big imagination.
The film ‘Zompocalpse’ is the work of six young people from the Grange Film Society, working under the direction of artist Jason Turner, and the red carpet will be rolled out for them and their guests at Mullingar Arts Centre on September 3.
“Because of Covid, we can only have 50 people at the première,” says Jason. Covid rules also meant that the cast had to be kept to six – but the cap on numbers proved not to be a big problem as the youngsters threw heart and soul into the work.
‘In Our Time’ was the theme of the film project, which was funded to the extent of €3,200 by a grant from the Westmeath County Council Arts Office.
The grant enabled the society to buy materials, equipment, green screens and some of the props they needed.
“There’s so much you can get out of film-making with young people: it is such a confidence booster for them. It gives them new skills,” says Jason, who founded the Grange Film Society in 2019. The membership of the society is drawn from the Mullingar Youth Project.
“The idea was to work with the film club and produce a short film and documentary.
“This project theme meant that we should include the thoughts and feelings of our young people about this particular time.”
With the streets “eerily empty”, Jason continues, the group quickly made a link between the global pandemic and a zombie scenario in Mullingar, and decided to unite those two themes.
Cast member Codie Kelly, who plays Noah, quipped that Covid has turned everyone into zombies behind their computer screens and this helped prompt the direction the storyline would take.
The film is set at the beginning of the pandemic as the whole world heads into lockdown and follows a group of teens as they transition from primary to secondary school.
Says Jason: “The main character Sean is anxious about being separated for the first time from his best friend, Noah. This will be their last holiday together – next year they will be attending different schools where their friendship will be tested. The Covid-19 pandemic sweeps the nation but there is a catch: the different variants are causing mutations. Where is Sean’s dad? What’s happening to the world?”
The young actors are looking forward eagerly to the launch: “I can’t wait for all my family and friends to see what we created,” says Tyler Moran, who plays Jay.
Sammy Reilly (‘Kyle’) said he loved the experience, going to new places and using the camera, while Callum Farrell, who plays Sean, the lead, jokes that he is “zoomed out” after the many Zoom sessions that took place as the team worked out the story and screenplay.
Also in the cast is Caine Moran, and the rest of the cast is made up of youth workers, and volunteers including Martin Keegan, Emma Stenson, Ava Stenson, Katelyn Conway and Mary Reilly.
Jason extended his thanks to Miriam Mulrennan and Elizabeth Kerrigan of Westmeath Arts; artist mentor Michael Fortune; Tracey Moore of Youth Work Ireland Midlands and Catherine McEntee of Mullingar Youth Project.
The film premier is to be streamed live on Facebook and YouTube:
• MYP-Youth Work Ireland Midlands
• On YouTube, search ‘Grange Film Society GFS’.
This is the trailer