Young director has wind in his sails

WATCH: Check out Liam Raymond's short film

Liam Raymond will this week find out if his eerie short movie has scooped any awards at the Fresh Film competition.

The Kingscourt teenager is the creative force behind ‘Sluaghs of the Forests’ having written, directed and starred in the chilling short film.

The red carpet will be rolled out for the nominees who have to adhere to the ‘Hollywood glamour’ dress code for the bash at Rathmines Omniplex.

Liam made it through to the regional finals last year with his debut ‘The Guilt Trap’, but having seen the calibre of the competition he had not expected to progress any further than the regionals, recently held in Belfast.

“I thought we’d get a McDonald’s on the way home and that would be it,” says Liam, his enthusiasm infectious.

“But then it came to the announcement of the nominees - the first category best concept: ‘Liam Raymond’. The cinema was quiet, and my mother let out a big ‘Whooo!’ Then ‘Best Director’ came up and only one person was nominated - I was shocked and my mother let out a bigger ‘Whoooo!’ Then ‘Best Film’ came up and by God I did not expect this whatsoever - my name was the last to be called out of the three - for ‘Sluaghs of the Forest’, and my mother let out a big ‘Wah-hoooo!’,” Liam recalls, straining for the highest pitch he can muster.

It’s testament to the strength of Liam’s storytelling, and eye for shots that he achieved all this with minimum resources- zero budget, a gimbal that ran out of juice within the first hour, a shooting time of one day, no lenses. He used his iPhone to film and edit the entire project.

Including himself, Liam’s cast and crew were limited to four: co-star Daniel Whelan; his “second pair of eyes” Faith Daly on make-up and behind the camera; and his 11 year old brother Fionn-Barra.

“The films I’ve made have all been with my little circle of friends and they are fantastic,” says the Colaiste Dun an Rí student.

Liam was clearly born with a fizzing imagination and he credits the encouragement of his parents Maura and Alan for keeping it sparkling.

“I’ve always had a side to myself where I loved to tell stories - as I used to call it ‘play on the couches’,” he recalls, bringing us back to his much younger self, maybe aged seven when he’d act out his own stories, with the livingroom sofa as his stage.

“I’d go into my own little world,” Liam recalls. “I had a whole list of characters when I was younger - I used to create comics as well. I’d bring these comic book characters to life and I’d play them myself. Every character in those comics I played and acted out for the sake of developing my story.

“I used to write stories all the time when I was in school - they were probably all generic and made already, but it was the encouragement of my parents that led me to become the storyteller I am today.”

Liam set aside what some might regard as childish ways when he entered secondary school.

“When you go to secondary school you care a bit more about what people think of you and ‘being cool’. Then in second year I realised that was a load of crap - I’d rather be myself, and do what I want to do and not care what anyone thinks of me, so I picked up the camera again,” he reflects.

Liam retains the same process of creating his stories to this day.

“If I was to create a story now, if I was in my room, I’d have to act it out first - it’s a way of bringing them to life.”

Life, or more accurately what you might do to stay alive, is central to Daniel’s latest gothic film.

“What really sparked my short film was Irish mythology,” he says flicking through a book to find a chapter on the ‘Sluagh na Marbh’, which translates as ‘host of the dead’.

“This really interested me, it is an Irish demon that comes from the West Wind.”

He notes that individuals who are depressed or speak ill of others are vulnerable to the heinous Sluagh na Marbh.

“They pick up on negativity. That really influenced me. I loved the thought of that, the fear of that - it can pick you up at any time.”

Interpretation

He adapted the idea for Sluagh of the Forests. In Liam’s film the demons loom more as an idea than a presence, with the woods almost becoming a third character in their own right.

“I didn’t want to include any people or figures in the forest, I wanted to leave it up to the viewer’s interpretation: what’s behind the trees? What do they look like?”

The set up sees a menacing ‘changeling’, Daniel Whelan and Liam’s character pitched in a struggle for survival.

“I felt for that short film, I’d rather me do it because I had such a particular image in my head of what I wanted the character to be. I trusted Daniel Whelan completely with the other character because he’s so good at being that grim kind of character.”

The project endured a false start as Liam was disappointed with their first effort, but confident the story had merit, went back to the drawing board.

“I rewrote the whole thing because I knew it had potential. Me and my friends sat down and went through what was good what was bad,” said Liam, who counts novelist Pat McCabe and filmmakers David Lynch and Wes Anderson as creative inspirations.

Liam and the team returned to nearby Lough an Leagh one winter’s day and made use of the fading natural light.

“We couldn’t have got a better day for filming. It was foggy, the ambience was perfect. It was freezing cold, absolutely freezing cold, but I think it’s one of my best memories,” he says of the shoot.

Liam correctly describes his pal Daniel as a “fantastic” actor.

“It was an amazing experience making it.”

His whole family- including brothers Paidi, Fionn-Barra and Oisin- and the cast and crew have been eagerly anticipating today’s Fresh Film finals, so they have arranged a minibus to ferry everyone to South Dublin.

“You can’t leave anyone out!”

Liam has the right attitude too approaching the finals.

“Whatever happens, it happens and I’m glad I even got into the finals with three nominations - that’s one of the biggest achievements in my 17, nearly 18 years on this planet, it’s one of my biggest achievements and I couldn’t be more proud because I know rightly this experience is going to lead into a bigger and better short film next year,” he says revealing he has already started dreaming up his next movie.

“I’m going to have a blast, no matter what happens,” he vows.