Sean crowned Young Filmmaker of the Year
A Wicklow student took home the title of Ireland’s Young Senior Filmmaker of the Year at the Fresh Film Festival 2019 held in Limerick.
Fourteen-year-old Sean Treacy won with his short film ‘Rue’, a story about a boy who regrets his last words to his best friend.
Sean said that winning the award was ‘an absolute honour’ given that the standard of this year’s entries was extremely high.
‘ They were all absolutely outstanding and any of them could have placed first. I am really honoured and chuffed that it was this film that won. It’s one the actors and I worked really hard on, I couldn’t have done it without them, and they were amazing. I can’t thank Fresh Film Festival enough for organising the whole event, it was just fantastic,’ he said.
The competition received a record of more than 1,700 entries this year and Sean was delighted, if a little surprised, at his win.
‘It’s basically a bit of a miracle, due to the fact that the overall standard was out of this world. The quality was unlike anything I have ever seen.
‘ There were at least ten entries that could have won, in my opinion. It certainly bodes well for the future of Irish film making.’
Sean, who hails from Ashford, attends St Gerard’s School and ‘Rue’ includes the acting talents of his friends Johnny Harkin and Finian Duff Lennon
Explaining the inspiration behind the film, Sean said: ‘It’s a coming of age story abut adolescence but it has lots of different themes. I had a few friends in mind so I cast them. The shooting took about four days and then two to three weeks of editing. I did a re-shoot of some of the things I wasn’t happy with and then, over time, made a few other changes before I was happy with things.’
Sean also directed the short film ‘Spark’, in which the body of a camera brings a young boy’s dream to life, which was also screened at the festival.
Sean had previously come second in Ireland’s Young Filmmaker of the Year 2018 for his film ‘Brother’ in which two kids become unlikely friends after they are forced to spend time together.
As part of his Fresh Film Festival win ‘Rue’ will be up for possible selection at other international film festivals.
Over the next year Sean is hopeful of producing two films and a documentary, while also presenting some Youtube videos.