With Horseshoe set to make its world premiere at the Galway Film Fleadh, Matthew Briody catches up with directing duo Edwin Mullane and Adam O’Keeffe to discuss sibling tensions, directing their debut feature on a budget and the mad poetry of Irish families.
Produced by WaveWalker Films and 3 Hot Whiskeys Films with support from Fís Éireann/Screen Ireland, the comedy drama follows four estranged siblings who reunite after the death of their father and unearth their own dark secrets.
How long did you have the idea for this film before you started production on it?
Edwin: Not very long at all. There was an unfilmed short film script that Adam and I developed a few years ago that concerned two adult siblings and a will, but that was a very different beast, structured as a two-hander horror short rather than an ensemble cast comedy-drama feature film. But that provided the initial seed idea. Families are mad, sometimes horrifically and sometimes hilariously, and wills are divisive.
After that, it was a bit of a whirlwind really, insofar as the opportunity to shoot an (at that stage) unfunded micro-budget feature film in this location and with this cast and crew came together before the story did, so the story itself was designed to work within those constraints.
Adam: Yes, we had to ask ourselves, what is possible within these resources? What can we do? But also, what story do we want to tell? And far from being a hindrance, working to such defined circumstances as a specific house and landscape, a specific time of year, a specific set of actors, was a hugely creative, fulfilling and invigorating challenge.
Then, once the seed idea from that previous short film script was matched to these idiosyncratic circumstances, the story very quickly took on a life of its own. Characters began speaking to one another on the page as themselves and bouncing off each other in interesting ways. While the pressure of a ticking production clock – we knew we only had access to the location, cast and crew for three weeks in January 2024 – meant that the script development process stayed alive, fresh and vital right the way throughout.
You've both collaborated together on short films in the past. How did the two of you meet and what led to you forming a production company together?
Adam: Edwin and I first started working together on theatre projects in a serious way after both studying at IADT, Dún Laoghaire. We were in the same course together. It was a classic humanities-style course inasmuch as it gave you plenty to think about, and heaps of useful critical thinking tools, but it didn’t actually train you for any one profession. You had to figure that out yourself after the fact. And it turned out that the thing we enjoyed most during our time in IADT was establishing and running the Drama Society.
Coming out of college and looking around, a film career seemed somewhat fanciful at that stage, but the entry bar to theatre was (and is) somewhat lower. If you have a script, a stage and a cast, you can put on a theatre production for very little (of course, you’ll not make very much either). So, that’s what we did. We spent a few years making and touring shows in between other bits and pieces before returning to our first love of film.
So,we pivoted from making theatre to creating commercials. This paid our rents, but it also gave us a little bit of profit which we then used on our short films. We did that for five years, creating eight or nine shorts that became incrementally more accomplished as we got incrementally more experienced, working as a de facto film school. During that time, both on the commercials and the shorts, we established a way of working together that enabled us to navigate our individual aesthetics, which can be quite different, in a collaborative way so in any story we’re tackling we are always sure that we’re both pulling in the same direction.
Edwin: This brought us up to shooting Horseshoe, which was the point at which we decided to leave the commercial world behind to focus on screen production solely, founding WaveWalker Films as a result.
Your previous shorts, Cleaner and Where Still Waters Lie, both premiered at Cork International Film Festival. Now Horseshoe is having its world premiere at the Galway Film Fleadh. How did it feel to find out you were premiering at one of Ireland's leading film festivals?
Adam: In Ireland we are lucky to have some fantastic festivals. It is a huge honour to be selected for any of them and given such a platform for your work. And as CIFF alumni, they’ve been a vital support in the trajectory of our careers so far.
As the film was made in the West of Ireland, the Fleadh seemed the most natural fit and myself and Edwin are beyond thrilled to be presenting our work in Galway after attending as film fans for years and being inspired by independent filmmakers.
Were you inspired by any family dramas/comedies when making this film?
Edwin: Adam and I both love ensemble films, and within a family context it’s impossible to get away from the classics like Little Miss Sunshine, The Royal Tenenbaums, Submarine and The Castle.
But each of those films had a distinct aesthetic approach and social sensibility tailored to their cultural backgrounds, so we thought we could be inspired by those films but do something very different from within our distinctly West of Ireland perspective. Being Irish we can be blackly and unrelentingly hilarious about everything and anything, at equal turns petty and compassionate, but always very strongly centred in place, for better or worse.
Adam: We also thought that an ensemble approach to the story was a good way of broadening the ambition of the film because, as a film focused largely around one family home, it could have been easy for this story to seem small, and we very much wanted wherever possible to increase the scope of the piece – whether that was through the ensemble dynamic or by simply placing our story and characters outside in the wild and beautiful terrains of North County Sligo.
The familial tension is so strong between your four leads. Did they rehearse together before filming began?
Adam: Edwin and I didn’t really do a rehearsal as such, rather a lot of conversations that allowed us to come to set with a sense of shared understanding and play. As we had worked closely with the majority of the cast in our other projects on stage and screen, we had a great shorthand together and we were lucky that they also had a great rapport as a group.
Pre-sale tickets for the film's premiere sold out in under three hours. Why do you think there's such a demand for stories like this to be told?
Edwin: It is essentially about family and connection, so perhaps that touch of the universal is what people are recognising. The film’s tagline is ‘All Families Are Mad’. And they are. We all have one, and they’re all individually mad.
But within that madness can be a lot of love and heart, and in these darker times hopefully that heart that the film centres around is what people are looking for.
Your film is beautifully shot entirely on location in Co. Sligo and Co. Leitrim. Did you always know you'd be shooting in those parts of Ireland?
Adam: Edwin and I both live in the West of Ireland and feel inspired by the dramatic landscapes and natural beauty, so it was always in our minds to set a movie here. Sligo and Leitrim became the backdrop to the story as Edwin lives there and we developed the script with the stunning scenery in mind.
What kind of challenges did you encounter shooting entirely on location?
Edwin: We were working off a very small budget, so naturally that has its own challenges, but shooting in the winter with all the variables of weather and logistics was probably the biggest challenge.
For instance, we had one day and one day only to shoot our pub interiors, which was precisely the same day that all of North County Sligo suffered a storm-induced power outage. Cue a madcap scramble to source generators from local farmers and builders. But we managed it. And it was great. And again, the circumstantial restrictions required us to be more technically improvisational and visually creative, which ended up really serving the film.
Our crew were incredible throughout and whenever anything threw us a curveball not only did they find solutions, but they did it with incredible enthusiasm and love.
There's some wonderful original music by John Francis Flynn in the film. Did he write those songs especially for your film?
Edwin: These tracks were recorded beforehand for John’s previous solo albums. But part of Adam’s writing process is to create a playlist specifically tailored to that project, not with the intention of those songs being incorporated into the script per se, but rather to guide the overall tone and atmosphere.
However, of course, occasionally the odd track from those playlists does creep in to the project. But that didn’t occur here until the editing process when we were looking for a way to highlight some important emotional beats within the film.
And we were always very clear that we wanted a particular feel to the original music that would complement and augment the amazing OST created by Anna Mullarkey, using those foundations from traditional Irish music but approaching it in a very contemporary fashion. That made JFF an excellent fit, and we were thrilled when we approached his team and were able to agree to include his music in the film.
You've previously worked with Carolyn Bracken, Jed Murray, Mary Murray, Neill Fleming and Eric O'Brien. Did you audition any of your cast or were they all selected specifically for each part?
Edwin: The parts were written specifically for the core cast, so these characters are very much born from them and their own texture as actors. No one else could play Cass, or Evan, or Niall or Jed. If someone else did, the character would have been written entirely differently, and the story would have shifted with that.
The film deals with loss in an interesting way. Did you draw from personal experience when tackling the subject of loss in the family?
Adam: This has already come up a little bit from people who have seen the film in advance, which is both interesting and encouraging.
Rather than direct experience of loss on my part, it’s more about working through the time of life I’ve entered where people I love are getting older (never mind myself) and you begin to appreciate that time is, by its very nature, limited. So, within that, what might loss look and feel like, because it’s coming down the tracks one way or another.
This became one of the advantages of the ensemble nature of Horseshoe, meaning that this question could be interrogated from a number of different perspectives, working it out through a number of different approaches – some constructive and some very much not.
Your film is edited by BAFTA-winning editor Tony Cranstoun ACE. Tell me more about working with him and the edit process.
Edwin: Working with Tony was incredible. Not only is he hugely talented and experienced, but also a joy to collaborate with. He has an incredible instinct for comedy that helped throughout the process. Working with Tony was the single most illuminating, invigorating and creatively educational process of the entire film. Adam and I learned more about writing and directing during the editing process than we did during the actual directing and writing of the film.
It was a real-time process of creative exploration and play through the editing process that taught us both a lot about the film, but also about our own film practice, and there is no doubt that we have both learned vital things that we will take forward into our next projects.
Anna Mullarkey's score really adds to the film's atmosphere. Did you give her any advice on what kind of score you were looking for or did she just work on her own?
Adam: Edwin and I knew from the beginning that we wanted a score that engaged creatively with the West of Ireland and Irish musical traditions, but which was not confined or restricted by those traditions. We wanted the cultural heritage and connection of those traditions, but we also needed the more urgent feel of more contemporary music.
This made Anna an excellent fit, given her musical background. Added to which, she was a person we had been looking to work with for a while. Anna really got the film from the start and we loved the process working with her. As Anna is also from the West, she really understood that setting and the characters, and working closely with her made us make bold choices that we believe helped the creation of the world and the characters in the story.
The Canavan family home feels like a character in itself. Can you tell us a little bit about the property you used for the film and its background?
Edwin: As mentioned, in many ways the location – a building called Bundrowes right on the Leitrim/Donegal border – came to the project first, before the script, and the story was then designed to fit into what the house offered.
Adam: Yes, walking around it beforehand it looked very different to how you see it on film (it serves as gap year accommodation during the year), but while the décor was contemporary you nevertheless got the feeling of an older property locked in time in some way, which is where the idea of a family home locked in a period of prolonged mourning came from. We then took that ambient atmosphere from the location and designed the set, with the amazing Mary Doherty, our production designer, doing some astonishing work to harness that feeling. In that, Adam and I were lucky that our friend Ryan Allen allowed us to film in his property and not only was it a really important location, but it also served as a unit base and an accommodation hub. Without Bundrowes House, there would be no film. Simple as that.
What do you hope audiences take away from this film after watching it?
Adam: We hope people have a laugh and recognise some of themselves in the characters and situations. Your family is mad. My family is mad. And that’s okay. And ultimately, this film is heart-warming. And we all need a bit of heart-warming right now.
What advice would you give to emerging writers/directors looking to break into the Irish film industry?
Adam: Our close friend, the DOP of Horseshoe, Jass Foley, always says: ‘Stop talking about doing the thing. Do the thing.’ The people we really respect and admire always seem to just find a way somehow and that would be something that myself and Edwin would echo to others. Just do it. Don’t wait for permission.
What’s next for WaveWalker Films in terms of producing?
Edwin: Adam and I have a project in the Screen Ireland Perspectives scheme called Watchtower and a new feature film at the Marketplace in Galway called Pilgrim Soul that we are really excited about. We also have a new TV series called Long Hot Summer in co-development with Toronto-based production company Project 10 (Schitt’s Creek, Son of a Critch) that has also just received Screen Ireland Development Funding.
We can't wait to see it. Thanks so much for chatting with us.
The world premiere of Horseshoe takes place on Saturday 12th July at 7pm in the Town Hall Theatre. Get your tickets here.
Directors: Edwin Mullane and Adam O’Keeffe Writer: Adam O’Keeffe Producers: Mo O’Connell, Edwin Mullane and Adam O’Keeffe Cast: Carolyn Bracken, Lalor Roddy, John Connors, Mary Murray, Jed Murray, Neill Fleming, Eric O’Brien and Caroline Harvey
About Adam O'Keeffe
Adam is an award-winning director, writer, editor and producer based in Kerry whose work spans across film, radio, theatre, and literature. He is the co-founder of WaveWalker Films. Adam's debut feature film (as writer, co-director and co-producer) Horseshoe was shot in January 2024 in North County Sligo, and which was recently awarded Completion Funding by Screen Ireland and which will premiere at the 2025 Galway Film Fleadh. He has also just been selected as one of Screen Ireland's Phase One Perspective candidates in the writer/director capacity for his horror project, Watchtower. Additionally, his rom-com TV series, Long Hot Summer, has just entered international co-development with Canada's Project 10, the team behind hits such as Schitt's Creek and Son of a Critch, and is in receipt of Screen Ireland TV Development Funding. Previous to Horseshoe, Adam has variously directed, produced, edited and/or written nine successful short films including Cleaner (Oldenburg International Film Festival - Official Selection 2023, Nottingham International Film Festival - Best International Short Film Winner 2023) and Where Still Waters Lie (Foyle International Film Festival - Official Selection 2020, Monsterflix Awards - Best Foreign Short 2020) that have cumulatively featured at over sixty national and international film festivals, winning awards and nominations in the process.
About Edwin Mullane
Edwin is an emerging producer with a track record of creating and delivering ambitious projects in the world of theatre, commercials and short films. As a producer and director of short film and drama, his work has been screened around the world. He is a co-founder of WaveWalker Films. As part of his work with WaveWalker Films, his debut feature, Horseshoe, received Screen Ireland completion funding and will enjoy its world premiere as part of the 2025 Galway Film Fleadh. starring Carolyn Bracken, John Connors, Lalor Roddy and Mary Murray. He is currently co-developing comedy drama Long Hot Summer with Canada’s production studio Project 10, Toronto (Schitt’s Creek). Recent short films include A Day in the Sun (premiere 2025); A Christmas Matter, written by Gary Duggan, and Cleaner (BEST CORK SHORT, BEST INTERNATIONAL FILM NIFF, OLDENBURG FF runner-up).
