Clonroche girls making screen debut in Dublin Film Festival short
A RANDOM ENQUIRY TO A QUAD HIRE FIRM LED TO FILM ROLES FOR THE TWO COUSINS
WHEN a film producer contacted a Wexford company enquiring about hiring quads, it resulted in a local woman and her teenage cousin taking the lead roles in a short movie which is to be shown as part of Dublin International Film Festival opening this week.
Twenty-five-year-old Kate Cullen and her 17-year-old cousin Guevara Hughes play two sisters in ‘4x4’, a film written and directed by Ayla Amano and produced by Aishling Malone.
In 1998, Kate’s farm-based family started the business that is now Quadventure and Guevara is her younger cousin who lives nearby in Killegney, Clonroche.
Looking for land and quads to use for the film, the producer did a Google search and found Quadventure before getting in contact with the Cullens.
‘ They also asked if we knew of any young girls who were able to drive the quads well. That’s when I took over the conversations with them. Guevara and I did video auditions together and facetimed Ayla,’ said Kate.
‘We knew they were on the fence about choosing girls who were natural on the quads but were not professional actors as opposed to choosing actors who were not natural quad drivers. Thankfully they decided to go with us.’
It’s the first film work that Kate has ever done, even though she has always had a passion for acting and wants to pursue it as a career – in the meantime, she works as a Technical Product Manager with Mastercard.
Growing up, she was a member of County Wexford Youth Theatre, Rathnure Pantomime Society and while studying Enterprise Computing in DCU, she was part of the college Drama Society.
She said ‘4x4’ was easy for the pair to work on because it was such a natural relationship and setting for them. ‘Guevara is my younger cousin and lives over the road from me. We are super close, and she has always been like a little sister to me.’
‘Ayla Amano, our amazing writer and director made our jobs so easy and so much fun at the same time. I loved every minute of the filming process and the whole experience. The crew were amazing to work with.’
Guevara is a 5th year student attending Coláiste Bríde in Enniscorthy and had little or no acting experience before joining the film project but was always interested in the profession.
‘Kate and I were extremely lucky to have been picked to play the roles of Sam and Edie. The roles came naturally to both of us as we grew up surrounded by quads and farm life, Kate more so than I.
‘It was a supernatural experience thanks to the amazing guidance of Ayla Amano, who is extremely talented. She really took me under her wing during this project. It was an amazing experience and I hope to do more projects in the future.’
Set in the heart of rural Ireland, 4X4 is about two teenage sisters who set out on their daily rounds to feed the animals. But tensions soon mount between them when they discover a pest caught in a trap and must decide what to do with it.
Kate said her favourite scene was one shot in a quarry because it was light and fun to perform. ‘I loved the atmosphere the cast and crew created during production. We were all really proud of the film.’
‘My favourite thing about the film in general was the fact of how well it represented the relationship between sisters, one minute you’re fighting the next you’re going for a spin on your quad and having fun.
Since the filming of ‘4x4’, she has been involved in two music videos -she had a small part in Robert Grace’s video for his song ‘Fake Fine’ and a video for K.P. Ring’s song ‘Not a Hopeless Place’.
Kate is currently auditioning and actively looking for new roles. ‘After ‘4X4’, I got to be part of an advert for Fáilte Ireland, promoting Wexford which will be out in the springtime.’
Ayla Amani studied Screenwriting and Directing at South Seas Film and Television School in Auckland, New Zealand, winning Best Film and Best Screenplay in her graduating year.
In 2018 she moved to Vancouver, Canada where she focused on documentary filmmaking, co-directing and writing a feature documentary for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation..
She now lives in Cork and received a Special Mention for Best Director for ‘4X4’ at the Cork International Film Festival in November last.
The film is showing as part of this year’s shorts programme at the Virgin Media Dublin International Film Festival, which is taking place online from March 3-14. For tickets and full listings see diff.ie.
This time last year, as the coronavirus began to infiltrate Irish society, the members of Wexford Sinfonia were rehearsing for their highly-anticipated Music in Movieland show which was due to take place on March 21.
However, after much deliberation it was decided the show should be postponed and rescheduled for this summer, for July 10. But now, with restrictions unlikely to have eased sufficiently to host the show, Wexford Sinfonia has taken the difficult choice to push Music in Movieland into 2022.
Revealing that the show would now take place at the National Opera House on July 23 of next year, Anne Ó Lionáin explained the thinking behind the decision.
‘Government restrictions will prevent us from having indoor performances with more than 50 people until September, at least, and the majority of our performers are unlikely to be vaccinated until mid-summer at the earliest,’ she said.
‘We have decided to reschedule for July 23, 2022 because a summer concert should be easier for all of our students who have finished school and/or will be possibly in third-level courses.
‘We want all our original singers and soloists to return, if they’re willing and able, and will have more rehearsals for both orchestra and choir ahead of our performance.’
Also returning will be musical directors Liam Bates and Eithne Corrigan who Anne praised for the commitment to getting this show onto the stage.
‘They have both remained totally committed to the show, hats off to them both, they’ve said “we’re going to do this”.’
All tickets will still be valid for the new date, but if any audience members need to return their tickets for any reason please contact the Opera House.
And Anne admitted when Music in Movieland does finally happen it will be an emotional scene for those on-stage and off. ‘We’re hoping that all the emotional intensity pouring off the stage will bring joy and happiness to everyone in our musical community,’ she said.