Director makes ‘Shoebox Memories’ on a shoestring

SOUTHSIDE director and writer Jason Branagan screened his first feature film at the Dingle International Film Festival last week.

Jason, an English graduate from Clondalkin, made ‘Shoebox Memories’ over a two-week period around different parts of Dublin – on a micro-budget of €2,500!

Rather than hinder the film, Jason believes that the scarcity of cash simply added to it.

“Really, really independent films and really low-budget films generally have a particular kind of feel that you won’t get in bigger budget film-making,” he explains. “I think it definitely has a quality because we made it for so little money.”

The film is a blossoming love story between a heartbroken musician, played by first time actor and songwriter Colm Gavin, and an artist, played by Jemma Nic Lochainn, even though they both agreed it would be a casual type of relationship. 

Music plays a very important role in the film and Jason, who is also a musician, wrote the soundtrack, which in turn inspired the film.

“Most of the songs came first,” he says. “They were basically just a bunch of old songs that I had lying around and a long time ago I had thought about trying to write a stage play or a musical.”

Jason said that while basing the story on his songs was difficult, it played a major role in shaping the characters and general storyline of the film.

“The script went through a lot of rewrites so there are components of the film that are derivative of the songs,” he elaborates. “There’s a song called ‘Emma Jane’, so the character’s name had to be Emma Jane.

Prior to the Dingle festival last week, the cast, crew and members of the media were the only people to have seen the film at two closed screenings in Clondalkin and at Filmbase in Temple Bar. Jason admits that it’s hard to gauge how the film will go down with the general public, even though he has received positive feedback from those who have seen it.

“Prior to the Filmbase screening and the cast and crew screening, we hadn’t shown it in a room full of people,” he says. “When we did, I was really pleasantly surprised and relieved, I guess, that people laughed where they were supposed to laugh and they reacted audibly and visibly.”

The film will do the rounds on the festival circuit over the next few months. After that, Branagan and his production company, Plain Sailing Films, will look at their distribution options.

Graham McGrath