Kerry’s Fodhla making all the right moves

In this weeks interview, Fergus Dennehy talks to Kerry’s very own Oscar nominated producer Fodhla Cronin O’ Reilly about her origins in filmaking, her career and seeing her dreams come true by having her own film screened in her home county.

IT’S not too often in life that we truly get to achieve one of our life goals and our dreams and subsequently experience that feeling of success of success and satisfaction that comes with that achievement - but for a young film producer from Cromane called Fodhla Cronin O’ Reilly, getting to screen her debut feeature film ‘Lady Macbeth’ in Killarney Cinemam, is something that she had dreamed about since she was a child.

“I always went to Killarney cinema when I was growing up, that was my local almost, and it’s always just been this dream of mine to screen my very first film there and I made sure to request that we do the preview in Killarney – I just wanted to be able to say acknowledge where I came from and the people that helped to get me where I am today

Passionate about film-making from an early age, Fodhla ensured the best possible start to her career by diving head first into the film industry as early as possible.

“When I finished secondary school, I went to the St John’s College in Cork and I did a year there studying film and during my time there, I did lots of work experience with a special effects company called ‘Team Effects’ up in Ardmore Studios – at the time, I knew that I wanted to get into film-making but I still wasn’t sure about which aspect of the industry I wanted to be involved in,” said Fodhla, talking to The Kerryman.

“All of this gave me the experience in terms of how sets work and it was after this that I decided that I wanted to get involved in the area of producing.”

Parents of course, always want the best for their children and with the infamous risk of failutre that is closely associated with a career in the film industry, you would think that Fodhla’s parents might have tried to steer her towards a more stable career path in life - Fodhla insists though that right back when she first mentioned her desire for a film career, her parents were more than supportive.

“Obviously there’s a risk when you get involved in film-making but I have to say that my parents were incredibly supportive of me wanting to get into film – after the year in Cork, I decided that I wanted to move to New York because at the time, it sounded like there was so many more opportunities over there and I wanted to study over there.”

“Like all parents though, this big move and the risks involved made them a little nervous and so eventually we settled on my moving to London instead and I went over there and I did a degree in film over there and I haven’t looked back since, even after all this, my parents are still so supportive of me to this day.

Already an Oscar nominee for her production work on the ten-minute stop animation short film ‘Head Over Heels’ in 2012, it’s been a busy few years for the 30 year old and judging by the early critical acclaim that Lady Macbeth is already garnerning from critics and reviwers from around the fil world, it might not be long before another Oscar nomination heading in Fodhla’s direction.

“I loved making it [Head Over Heels]and I worked with the greatest team when we were making it and honestly, we made it because we felt really passionate about the story and the craft of stop motion itself and honestly, to be nominated for an Oscar for a project that we loved working on so much – that was just the cherry on top really,”

“Making the move to feature films felt like a very natural jump for me, short films, as much as I loved making them, I was always keen to move on to my first feature film and after the success that ‘Head Over Heels’ generated, it felt like the right time for me to make the move and the step up and that is how Lady Macbeth came about and I first met up with Will and Alice who were the director and script writer for the film so I was just very lucky to be able to work with such a great team on the film, “she continued.

The film, Lady Macbeth, which was filmed in just under four weeks, for those not in the know, is a British period film, based upon the novel by Nikolai Leskov and which tells the tale of young newlywed Katherine (played chillingly by Florence

Pugh) who who is set to a cold and unwelcoming house somewhere in the countryside of England where she is forbidden to leave the house by both her stifling father-in-law and where is under the rule of her sexually dysfunctional, cold, unloving and much older husband.

After she is left alone in the house for a number of weeks, Catherine finds solace and comfort in the arms of a new worker in the house and they begin a passionate affair, which leads to diastrous and often times violent and disturbing consequences for the occupants of the house.

“I had seen a short film directed by William Oldroyd [Lady Macbeth Director] and I watched that and I just loved it and so I met up with him and we just really got on from the get go and during that meeting, he told me that he had just met Alice Birch [Lady Macbeth Writer]and she had the ide idea to adapt the Nikolai’s novella and when I first met her, she had only wriiten page of prose but when I read it, I just thought that this could be something really special.”

The film was exclusively screened in Killarney cinema this past Saturday night and again in Waterville’s Tech Amergin on Sunday night - with the screening in Killarney receiving a sustained round of applause from the audience at the films end.

Speaking at the premiere on Saturday, Fodhla admitted to feeling overwhelmed an grateful to all those who came out to show heir support.

“I just want to thank everybody who came out to see the film - it’s so wonderful and you have no idea how grateful I am for all the support; I’m just proud to be here and to be able to screen my debut feature film in my home county and I’m actually feeling quite overwhelmed by it all - this film was very much a collaboration - the majority of people involved in making it were first-timers like myself - the first time for me producing a feature film , the first time for the writer and the irst time for the director,” she said.

“It really wouldn’t have been possible all the support that we received along the way so thank you all very much.”

Never one to enjoy the spotlight too much, Fodhla left the audience to enjoy the screening but returned to great applause at the credits to take a special Q& A from the audience - where she reveales that she’s already deep into work on her next production - a feature documentary featuring the legendary Sir Michael Caine entitled ‘My Generation’ and I mean, if you manage to secure the services of Michael Caine in any capacity, you must be doing something right.

So far, so good for the girl from Cromane and long may it continue.

Lady Macbeth is scheduled for release in cinemas in Ireland and the UK on April 28 and is set for an American release later in June.

It had always been a dream of mine to screen my first film there-I just wanted to acknowledge where I came from and the people that helped me get where I am today.