Fréwaka

The Northern Ireland filmmaker has returned to the horror genre, bringing a visually rich, studied film that takes Irish language cinema to new heights.

A stylistic departure to her found-footage first film, The Devil’s Doorway, and following from her script for the DoubleBand-produced Irish language thriller, Doinnean, Fréwaka draws on well-known features of traditional Ireland and presents them as an uncanny menagerie. With these in-built visual motifs, an expert use of lighting, colour and sound that create the ever-present, rising tension of the genre, Clarke’s writing and direction set her out as a modern Irish auteur.

Shot in and around Carlingford and Ravensdale, the film captures an atmospheric Ireland - one steeped in history, folklore, secrets and religious iconography. It tells the story of care assistant Shoo, who rather than confront the death of her mother, takes a job looking after an elderly woman in a large and remote country house.

As the two women slowly come to trust each other, events take a turn that mean they are forced to face up to the truth about each other’s lives.

Fréwaka was produced by Dermot Lavery of Belfast’s DoubleBand Films and Patrick O’Neill of Dublin-based Wildcard.

Rating: 15+

Part of Belfast Film Festival>>