A young woman struggles to come to terms with the consequences of her sexual orientation in late 1970s Ireland in Shaun O’Connor’s dramatic short A WHITE HORSE.
Film And TV Now spoke with the director about the film.
FILM AND TV NOW: We sense the film is set in the period it is when we see cards in the phone booth saying the likes of ‘Thin Lizzy’ and ‘Bobby Sands’. Why did you specifically set the short around this Time?
SHAUN O’CONNOR: The late 1970s were a time of major change, and in particular for LGBT people who, in spite of advances in civil rights, were still being oppressed and disenfranchised. Setting the film in this time allowed us to hint at those larger cultural shifts while focusing on one family’s story.
FTVN: The film is reminiscent in tone of Clint Eastwood’s CHANGELING which focuses on another woman’s desire to rebel against a system that refuses to embrace her own emotional needs. Did you do much research into the period?
SOC: Our writer Paul Cahill was inspired by the stories of relatives of his own family who found themselves committed, with little cause, into Irish psychiatric institutions in the 1960s and 1970s.
The experience affected them profoundly and the film is in honour of them. Paul also did extensive research into psychiatric hospitals in the 1970s, how they were used as catch-alls for people considered ‘troublesome’ or ‘abnormal’, and often used so-called conversion therapies on gay people.
We also conducted private interviews with people, both staff and patients, who had personal experience of life in these hospitals at the time. Another major influence was the memoir Bird’s Nest Soup by Hanna Greally, an Irish woman who was incarcerated for nineteen years in a psychiatric hospital.
FTVN: What is the significance of the white horse in this film, given that it is only a suggestion in the opening phone conversation between the main character and her mother?
SOC: ‘The White Horse’ is revealed to be a painting in the room where Bridget is receiving Electroconvulsive Therapy, and she has associated it with the fear and confusion that the treatment has caused her.
FTVN: Tell us about your cast.
SOC: We had an amazing cast, drawn primarily from theatre actors based in Cork city in the south of Ireland. Bridget is played by Amber Deasy, a brilliant young actress. Bridget’s Mother and Father are played by Cora Fenton and Jack Healy, both of whom I have worked with in earlier short films.
We rehearsed over two full days, one day with just Amber, and one with Amber and Cora together. So even though they’re never onscreen together and the conversation takes place entirely on the phone, through the rehearsals they had a sense of the delivery and reactions the other actor would give.
Their conversation is the heart of the film, and both Amber and Cora give beautiful, heart-rending performances.
FTVN: Tell us about your production team.
SOC: Our Director of Photography, Jass Foley brought a very clear, cinematic vision on how to shoot and grade the film.
Our production designer, Kate Howard runs a vintage clothing shop in Cork city and so had access to a huge array of costumes and paraphernalia from the late 70s.
Our 1st AD Niall Owens had extensive experience in Film and TV production so was able to deliver an achievable shooting schedule.
And producer Sinéad Barry, who has been production coordinator on large features like Vivarium and Float Like A Butterfly, brought everything together on a small budget. The entire crew brought valuable skills and a really positive energy to the production.
FTVN: Where did you shoot and for how long?
SOC: We shot over the course of three days.
Day One was Bridget in the phone booth, which we shot in Timoleague in East Cork. It has one of the few old-style phone booths left in Ireland, and the town were kind enough to grant us access to it.
Day Two was in Griffith College in Cork City, which we used as the setting for the psychiatric hospital.
Day Three was Bridget’s family home, and we found a perfect 70’s style house outside Cork City.
FTVN: How did you raise finance for the short?
SOC: The film was made with the Screen Directors’ Guild of Ireland’s ARRI Take scheme, which awards filmmakers the use of ARRI Alexa LF camera and Signature Prime lenses.
This helped us create a beautiful-looking film. The rest of the finance was a personal investment from myself, producer Sinead Barry and writer Paul Cahill. Fortunately we had a cast and crew who believed in the script and generously worked for little expense. Location owners and suppliers very kindly helped us out too.
FTVN: We understand you have battled your own issues of a similar nature to those of the character and that you wrote a book. What is the book called and what are the key things you have learned to embrace in your own personal journey?
SOC: Back in my mid-20s I developed chronic anxiety and a particularly frightening symptom known as depersonalization. It was quite intense and put my life and career on hold for two years.
Thankfully I recovered and wrote a book called The Depersonalization Manual to help others in their journey to recovery. In terms of my own personal journey, my experience with mental illness has given me a strong sense of empathy with other sufferers that I would not have gained otherwise, and that I think has informed my work.
FTVN: You were nominated in 2020 for the Virgin Dublin Film Festival Discovery award. How does this award help film-makers like yourself?
SOC: The Dublin Film Festival is one of the biggest festivals in the country and the standard of filmmaking is incredibly high, so to be nominated for the award was a huge honour. A White Horse has been doing really well in terms of festivals and awards, which as an independent filmmaker is always a welcome boost!
FTVN: We understand that you are now developing this short into a TV series. What are you hoping to achieve and focus on with this version of the project?
SOC: Part of our goal with ‘A White Horse’ was to use it as a proof-of-concept for a TV mini-series set in an Irish psychiatric institute in the 1970s. These places were repositories not just for the mentally ill but also for the poor, the eccentric, the socially troublesome, the vulnerable and the unwanted.
We want to explore that world, in which being gay or in any way ‘abnormal’ could lead to someone being subjected to psychiatric treatment or incarcerated for years. But also, we want to focus on culture being at the cusp of positive change, and our lead character Bridget becoming aware of that and fighting back against authority and tradition.
FTVN: How has COVID-19 affected your development and evolution as a film-maker?
SOC: It’s been a really difficult time for the industry, from productions shutting down to festivals being cancelled. We had a series of festival screenings in the USA that were either cancelled or moved online.
So much of the industry is dependent on screenings and networking, and having none of that this year has been tough. With that said, it has allowed for concentrating on writing and development, so as soon as the world gets somewhat back to normal we’ll have plenty of projects ready to go.
FTVN: Finally, what are you most proud of about A WHITE HORSE?
SOC: I’m really happy that it has resonated with audiences. At the pre-COVID festival screenings we invariably had people approach us to talk about their own experiences or those of someone they knew, be it a friend or older family member.
These were individuals who had been committed to mental hospitals because of their sexual orientation, ‘abnormal’ behaviour, or anxiety-based conditions that are considered very treatable today. It’s a part of our recent history that’s not often discussed, so it’s been great to have the film connect with people, and inspire them to talk so openly about it.
