Short film made in Derry shortlisted for awards

The film was made by Derry man Keith O’Grady with CineMagic and features a host of Derry talent. Film-maker Keith O’Grady wrote, directed and edited the short film and he is ‘thrilled’ that the short has been shortlisted for the awards.

He said: “The basic idea for the film has been cooking with me for about 20 years. I had an idea for a bereaved parent in Derry and the hypnotic nature of the bottom deck of the Craigavon bridge. I had always wanted to make it and it was actually an old friend of mines who inspired it. We were shooting a bit of it back then but a number of things conspired against us and I shelved the idea entirely.

“I had done a film with CineMagic last year called Rain, which did really well. It was a folklore film, set in the 40s, about an orphan who gets adopted by a family in Armagh. That opened up a relationship with CineMagic and enabled us to deliver A Bitter Pill as part of a training programme for new entrants into the film industry. Basically, I engaged in training sessions with people aged 18-25, who want to get into the film industry. They train and then get a position as a trainee on a particular film. We were given a remit to write a story about mental health and the ideas that the young people were comin gup with in the training session led me back to the idea for A Bitter Pill I had 20 years ago. I updated the idea to suit what the world was going through since 2020 and that’s the backdrop to the film. A Bitter Pill is about how, in the social media age, people are very quick to point the finger at each other and, rather than raise each other up, people are very quick to knock each other down.

“A Bitter Pill is about a young couple who had a kid when they were 18 and they are trying to raise this child in the middle of a pandemic. They’re both 25 and at university so they’re trying to study at the same time as homeschool their boy. Every single line, glance and look matters in the film because it’s about how people read into things too much sometimes and don’t read into things enough other times. A glance can mean something or it can be misinterpreted. Ultimately, these two young people, who have been locked in the house for a year, go on a night out and a tragedy happens. Something goes wrong and the father of the child spends the next year torturing himself trying to get his head around what has happened. The reality is, when everyone makes an impact on a decision, it’s everyone’s fault but it’s nobody’s fault at the same time.

"Andy Doherty, from Derry, is the lead, and he’s an amazing actor. He was in A Bump Along the Way with Bronagh Gallagher. Julie Lamberton is from Limavady and she’s phenomenal as well as Maeve Connelly, who teaches in Thornhill. She’s a brilliant actor and I’ve worked with her a lot. Then, there’s a few Belfast actors; Marty Maguire and Rachel Murray. The little boy at the centre of the story is from Portadown and he was brilliant.

"A Bitter Pill has done so well, it’s been at a good few festivals around Ireland and in other countries. It’s been shown in America a few times and in Canada, where it was nominated for Best Short at a festival in Toronto. It’s up for four awards at the National Short Film Awards in America; Best Dramatic Sort, Best Director, Best Actor for Andy Doherty and Best Supporting Actor for Rachel.

"CineMagic films are made with very little budget with trainees being given the chance to take part in the production. That can cause things to be more hurried but I absolutely love it. I’m a part-time educator, I’ve taught one day a week for the past 20 years, so seeing young people get opportunities is an important thing for me. I’m really happy with how it’s doing.”

A Bitter Pill will be screened at the Foyle Film Festival on Thursday, November 24 at 6pm. Visit foylefilmfestival.org for the full programme of events.