Fostering true grit in Cork

Brendan Canty at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival before Edinburgh: 'I guess the film is a love letter in a way to my Cork roots. The town has a special place in my heart and I know it better than anywhere else' Photo: Courtesy of Film Servis Karlovy Vary

Filmmaker Brendan Canty who’s from Cork, takes surprises in his laconic Irish stride. He’s still reeling, however, from watching his first feature Christy on the big screen on the main square in Romania’s historic capital Cluj-Napoca before a crowd of some 5000 as the opening film as part of the Transilvania International Film Festival.

Before that there was the Grand Prix of the Generation 14plus International Jury at the Berlin Film Festival in February, more acclaim and crowds at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (where we meet), and subsequently best Irish film closer to home at the 37th Galway Film Fleadh and other festivals such as Edinburgh and, in France, the Dinard Festival of British and Irish Film on the agenda as well as the release in Ireland on 29 August.

“I am Cork born and bred,” he says with some pride. “I went back to my homestead to make Christy. I had never really left although I spent a year and a half in New Zealand where my wife is from. I guess the film is a love letter, in a way, to my roots. The town has a special place in my heart and I know it better than anywhere else.”

The feature, expanded from a short, tells of two estranged brothers with chequered backgrounds in the care system who suddenly find themselves living under the same roof. The situation prompts them to reconcile their pasts and make decisions about the future. Christy is about to turn 18, which means he can no longer be looked after within the foster care system and is released into the care of his half brother.

Brendan Canty: 'I would love to make films elsewhere but I know I will always be drawn back to Cork' Photo: Courtesy of Film Servis Karlovy Vary

“The short film was more about the community we found when made it. Basically we tapped into this world and found there were so many stories to tell. It was a kind of once in a lifetime thing and we uncovered a bit of a goldmine in terms of material,” said Canty. He continued: “Even before the short film we were trying to write the feature [Canty works with long time friend and collaborator Alan O’Gorman] and we kept hitting wall. When we made the short film and found this community and gained their confidence it enabled us to go back and unlock the feature. It made it a lot easier because we had real people to write for. A lot of their stories found their way into the feature, although it is not based any one true story but there is a lot of truth in it.”

The crew worked with real foster children, and to enable them to feel comfortable they had to create a safe space. Unconsciously Canty found he was spending a lot of time among them simply because he wanted to. “There is a place called the Cavern Studios, which is a space that teaches youngsters to make hip-hop, but really it just teaches them how to use their voice. When they are writing hip-hop they can say things that may be they never would in a counselling session or whatever. It is healing in a way and spending time around these kids was amazing … they trusted us.

"Then because the film is about foster kids we needed them to feel when watching the film that they were represented. We ran everything by them and the film is very much theirs. I don’t think they had ever seen anything that represents them as much as this.”

Canty values the calling card that was provided by the short. He found an agent and the material he had shot for the short helped to find backing from BBC Films and Screen Ireland. He describes the budget of around £3million as “more than enough”.

Danny Power in Christy Photo: Courtesy of EIFF

Originally Canty had ambitions to be a football coach but once he fell into making music videos for top artists (among them Hozier’s Take Me to Church which went viral on YouTube) as well as commercials for the likes of Adidas and Budweiser, he was hooked. His first narrative short, For You, with Barry Keoghan won awards and got him noticed. The football connection did play a part in that O’Gorman and he had played together since they were five. As coaches they would become father figures for the youngsters - and, he admits, it was from that background that Christy probably came from.

“I was always good at bringing people together. I ended up sitting next to a guy at school who said he was into film and wanted to make one, and I said I was up for that. It was the most fun I had ever had and after that I got the bug. I started with comedy sketches and then after that the music videos. But I was not the kid who was obsessed with the movies growing up … I was more obsessed with football.

“Getting great performances is about making people feel comfortable and I think I am quite empathetic. And that is something I have always been good at.We did a lot of workshops and improvisation. It was groundbreaking stuff, delving into the back stories of the characters. Their improvisation in the week before we started filming all went into the script and I could see they were becoming the characters and deepening their connection with them.

Gabby Murphy and Barry Keoghan in For You, Canty's first short, the director says: 'Getting great performances is about making people feel comfortable and I think I am quite empathetic'

“There was no coaxing the kids. We knew what each of them could do so there was no consideration about how we could we get that performance. We had laid the groundwork and set it up for them to deliver. Anything we needed to test out we did that in workshops. I wanted to find in the workshops where the humour between the brothers lay. They got frustrated by it, but then I was able to say - no problem it just means there was no humour between the brothers! We did not leave anything like until the day of the shoot.”

The cast that includes Danny Power (as Christy), Diarmuid Noyes (as half brother Shane), Emma Willis (Shane’s young wife), as well as Alison Oliver, Chris Walley and Helen Behan O'Brien plus members of the local rap group Kabin Crew based out of Cork City's north-side.The filming took around 30 days but Christy had been with Canty and O’Gorman for almost seven years before that. He spent around a year in the editing process and post production.

“I would love to make films elsewhere but I know I will always be drawn back to Cork because it is my place. I love film but I am not obsessive about it. I have two young kids at home so I am not sure where I would find the time to indulge myself as a film buff. I wish I could say that I have my next film in my head but in a strange way it has to come to me. I have one idea that I am working on with a new writer but it is very early days. I might try some TV work but I’m really waiting to see what happens and what doors may open”

Christy screens at EIFF today, 15 August at 18.30 at Vue Omni. Richard Mowe talked to Brendan Canty at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival.