Lights, Gaeilge, Action! - Irish filmmaker on his family legacy of shooting movies

Extra.ie​

a day ago

A young filmmaker whose debut short premiered at the Galway Film Fleadh this week is extending an established family legacy of shooting as Gaeilge – and working with legendary Hollywood director Ridley Scott.
Oíche Chultúir – a boy racer-themed action short that is set in Gaeltacht-area Connemara – was well received in Galway, almost 50 years after writer/director/star Oisín Fleming's grandfather broke the mould for Irish language cinema.
Bob Quinn's 1978 film Poitín, set in the same part of the world, was the first full-length feature shot entirely in the Irish language.
Quinn, now 89, ran an independent cinema from his home, later immortalised in the 2004 documentary Cinegael Paradiso, directed by his son Robert and also screened in Galway this week. A young filmmaker whose debut short premiered at the Galway Film Fleadh this week is extending an established family legacy of shooting as Gaeilge. Pic: Sean Dwyer
Fleming said he hasn't given much thought to the evolution of life in rural Ireland between his grandfather's film about illicit alcohol production and his own Kneecap-soundtracked caper, which deals in harder substances. But the 26-year-old has 'definitely thought about' the similarities between the films.
'I suppose it's interesting how we both made a crime film with a car chase, and kind of similar cheeky dialogue,' he explained to Extra.ie.
Fleming, who comes from Bray in Co. Wicklow, has two 'very proud grandparents' in Bob and his wife Helen, who 'helped write Bosco', so filmmaking 'definitely runs deep' in the family. Fleming, who comes from Bray in Co. Wicklow, has two 'very proud grandparents' in Bob and his wife Helen, who 'helped write Bosco', so filmmaking 'definitely runs deep' in the family. Pic: RTÉ
That is true even before considering he is the son of Vikings: Valhalla director Hannah Quinn and cinematographer Tim Fleming, whose credits include Gladiator, Once and the Netflix smash Fate: The Winx Saga (which was directed by Quinn).
In fact, both his parents worked on Gladiator, where the infant Fleming first shared a set with legendary filmmaker Ridley Scott, though it turned out that it would not be the last time. Fleming was a trainee assistant director on the 2021 historical epic The Last Duel, starring 'absolute gent' Matt Damon.
'I definitely was inspired by how direct he was and how calm he was and how simple it was,' Fleming said of working with Scott. 'Just don't overcomplicate it. Direct and clean [instruction] is just always better. You don't want to confuse anybody.' The emerging filmmaker has learned from his parents, too, and doesn't play down the head start he got over less-connected peers. Pic: Supplied
One day of the shoot 'really sticks out', he remembered. 'It's a massive scene, 150 extras in the middle of this medieval battle. And over the walkie-talkie, they're like, 'Right, stand by, rolling.'
'And then he goes, 'Okay, wait, wait, let it cook.' And he just waits for 30 seconds, just lets the tension build just to get more out of the performance – just little things like that.
'He'd also set up a shot and say over the walkie: 'I'm painting a Vermeer.' He's an amazing artist. He's always referencing shots or paintings that he wants to recreate. I just love that.' 'I won't lie; it makes my life a lot easier because [my parents are] so well-liked. And I've actually worked with a lot of these people in my career now, that I'd been on set with as a kid. So I'm so lucky. Pic: Supplied
The emerging filmmaker has learned from his parents too, and doesn't play down the head start he got over less-connected peers.
'I won't lie; it makes my life a lot easier because [my parents are] so well-liked. And I've actually worked with a lot of these people in my career now, that I'd been on set with as a kid. So I'm so lucky.
'I don't take it for granted. I've had every opportunity to move up in the industry, and I never, ever complain. I just keep my head down and work on it. When I get the nepo baby accusations, I just take it on the chin.' Fleming said he abandoned plans to go to film school after hearing from enough graduates that they 'wish they'd just started working'. Pic: Sean Dwyer
Some 60 credits into a career that began at 16, his parents would appear correct in telling him they have 'only brought me to the door'.
'If I'm not good enough, there's no way I'd make it to 60 credits, I suppose,' he added.
Fleming said he abandoned plans to go to film school after hearing from enough graduates that they 'wish they'd just started working'.
'They wished that they just learned on the job, because there's only so much film school can teach you, I think. And then people come out of film school maybe and they get a shock to the system, because the industry can be pretty brutal.'
Both his parents contributed to Oíche Chultúir, and have mentored their son on their own jobs.
'We work really well together. My mum was definitely tough on me when she trained me first as an assistant director for my first few jobs, but I suppose she did that for a reason, to kind of shape me up. But I'd really love to work with them more.'
His brother Jacob and half-brother Eoin are also pursuing film careers, following their father into cinematography.
It was not his pedigree or Gaeilgeoir background that inspired Fleming to make films in Irish, but the international success of Colm Bairéad's Oscar-nominated An Cailín Ciúin – first noticed by Fleming while working on The Gone with his mother in Australia.
'All the Aussies I was with wouldn't stop going on about this little Irish film called The Quiet Girl, and I thought, 'Wow, I'm on the other side of the world, and we don't seem to be celebrating our own Irish language films as much as other people do.'
'On the way home, I did the [funding pitch for Screen Ireland] with the Kneecap track [H.O.O.D] in mind, having not known there was going to be this massive Kneecap explosion.'
The band were 'reasonable' in licensing the track for use in the film, while fellow Irish-language rapper Súil Amháin requested a donation to the charity ACALI' Palestine in place of a fee.
Fleming said the feedback so far has confirmed his belief that the 'tone of the Irish just feels better than the English' in his film.
'I like the cadence when you write it, and I just like the cadence of my film. I'd love to play around with that more.'