Young Cork filmmakers merge Gaeilge and gay life in quirky short

ADDRESSING an invited audience of her short film, Homofónia at the Pavilion in Cork recently, producer Alana Daly Mulligan said that the ten minute production is “this gentle act of defiance against hate”.

With our libraries being targeted by groups objecting to LGBT literature on the shelves, Alana says that homophobia is an ever-present reality in society, despite big gains such as the gay marriage referendum.

Alana, 24, from Waterford, who is gay, “ran away” to Cork after leaving school. She describes it as “an amazing city whose people are fiercely proud of their LGBT community. But homophobia happens all the time. It’s not addressed enough”.

Alana and the film’s director, Luke K Murphy, got together to write and came up with “a queer comedy of errors celebrating young love and an ancient language”.

Alana, an arts graduate of UCC who was awarded the Quercus Talented Student Scholarship for active citizenship, works for MEP Grace O’Sullivan from the Green Party. She looks after media content for the politician. Alana also works freelance in video production and website design.

Originally, Alana was a spoken word poet. Luke, a writer, filmmaker and businessman, was looking for a collaborator. A mutual put him in touch with Alana. They started working together, mid-Covid, over Zoom.

Luke was keen to make something that could be an educational experience while also being humorous.

“I normally don’t write comedy,” says Alana. “It wouldn’t be a strength of mine. But comedy exists in the school environment. 

We came up with a story that takes place in Irish class. It’s an example of how miscommunication can happen in our world.

Homofónia, some of which is as Gaeilge, stars two Leaving Cert girls who are a closeted couple. As the debs application deadline approaches, the pair must sort out their issues as Gaeilge to prevent their classmates from knowing they’re an item. However, translation issues leave their relationship in jeopardy.

The film is amusing with a certain amount of conflict that gets resolved, thanks to the help of a sympathetic teacher.

Alana says it is “a great allegory for people who are LGBT and are not understood and feel like they’re communicating against a brick wall.”

When the script took shape, Alana applied for funding through the Bank of Ireland Begin Together initiative.

“It turned out to be a really good match for us. We got a grant of €12,000 from Bank of Ireland. That allowed us to work on the project more intensively. Also, we hired people to help with it. We assembled a really great cast, three of whom are Cork-based.”

They are Aoife Commons, Catherine Taylor and Oran Treacy. Other cast include Carmel Stephens, who has been in Fair City, who plays the teacher. There is also Bláthnaid Daly and Daniel Nwambu.

The short was filmed in Terence MacSwiney Community College on the northside of Cork.

“It’s a fantastic location where The Young Offenders was filmed,” said Alana.

This is her first professional film and Luke’s fourth.

For a lot of us, it was our first delve into film. We have a great crew. 

"The original score is by Wike Schippers, who has a masters in composition from the MTU Cork School of Music.”

The sound mixing was done by Alana’s partner, Kimaya Tegtmeyer.

Alana says Homofónia “feels like a story that hadn’t been told before. We were thinking about the way the curriculum is at the moment. There’s the short story, ‘ Dunmharú ar an DART’ and then you have Cáca Milis. They’re tremendously violent stories, not really reflective of Ireland. We wanted to tell a story that young people might be able to imagine themselves in. It also might do a bit of social good because half of it is in Irish. It could be an access point for so many people.

“A lot of people can relate to going into Irish class and not really understanding what’s going on. The Irish language is a metaphor for not being able to find your place in the word as a gay or LGBT person.”

Having struggled with being a lesbian “for a long time”, Alana came out when she was 18.

“Until a year or two ago, I would have had a real problem with it. I wouldn’t have felt too good about it, to be honest. I probably knew something was up from the age of about ten. 

When I was 15 or 16, I really struggled. But in the last few years, I’ve come to with it. I’m very happy about it now.

At school, Alana felt isolated and she says: “I one teacher telling us that homosexuality is morally wrong. The teacher wouldn’t trust gay people to mind their children.

“I saying we should organise Gay Pride events in the school, but the principal said the school wouldn’t want to be seen to promote that kind of lifestyle.

“I felt crushed because I wasn’t out to anyone. I was trying to come out to myself by doing good acts in the community.

“To have that slapped back in your face makes you feel crap.”

However, Alana had “some amazing teachers who probably knew I was gay but didn’t say anything. They would always check that I was OK. But when I came out in sixth year, my friends abandoned me. I put my head down. I had friends from primary school who were kind.”

While Alana says that people have become more accepting of the LGBT community, “secondary schools are vicious battlegrounds for social standing. Kids will do whatever they have to do to feel good about themselves.”

Alana and Luke are going to send their short film to schools as well as to film festivals around the country.

“We’re hoping to have a series of workshops in schools in September and October with the screening.

“We are going to partner with ‘Creativity and Change’, which is like a social justice organisation based at MTU Cork. It puts a global perspective on issues.”

Clearly, the creative duo have big plans for their short film.