HERE - Graduate Film of the National Film School

HERE is the story of a college student coming home for Christmas, trying to navigate the new family dynamic and their different types of grief after suffering the loss of their beloved mother and wife.

The film is a graduate production for the National Film School at IADT.

Director & Writer - Mark Lynch

Mark Lynch is an award-winning writer and director from Cork and currently in his final year at the National Film School in IADT. His most recent project was in The Richard Harris International Film Festival for the short film he wrote called “Good Grief”. He also won Best Overall Film in the First Frame category at Dublin International Film Festival 2021 with his short film “His Car”. Grief is a common theme being explored in Mark's work, as his Father suddenly passed away during lockdown in 2020.

“Losing a parent is a very complex thing to try and make sense of. A parent is a beacon, a superhero, so it’s difficult to fully comprehend what it feels like when they are gone. Three years ago my father passed suddenly, and since then I have been trying to articulate my feelings of grief on screen. HERE will dive into my own sense of guilt from being away from home for college, and the realisation that no grand gestures are the fix, but the promise of being there for one another.

It’s a very vulnerable story to tell as I have been carrying this guilt and shame about leaving my family for years now. Although they assure me that I haven't abandoned them, I still hold on to the anxiety that my dad would be disappointed in me for not being there for my mother and brothers.

Working on the realisation of HERE with my team has been a fantastic journey, which is still a very meaningful and ongoing collaboration. It’s never just down to one person. I think that’s why I love film-making so much; it is such a team effort, and it is such a nice feeling when you pull it off and get to see it on the big screen and get to share the emotions after the effort.“

THE TEAM:

Producer - Hana Mohamed

Cinematographer - Daniel Sedgwick

Sound Design - Ailo Kerr

Editor - Jakob Lemme

Costume Design - Katie Jane Heffernan

Production Design - Valerie Morozova

WHY WE NEED YOUR HELP:

HERE is a graduate production self-funded by the whole team. Despite working without compensation, the crew is investing immense time and effort into this project. While each one of us has been saving up for the past year to be able to realise the project, we hope to raise about 3000€ through crowdfunding to cover additional costs such as catering and petrol money for Cast and Crew as well as paying for the shoot location. This production is a much larger scale than our previous projects and so we hope to realise the story to its fullest potential.

We are incredibly grateful for any donations made, no matter how big or small. Your contribution will be supporting young Irish Filmmakers who are pouring their hearts into this project. We will be entering HERE into the Film Festival Circuit so its success can have a long lasting impact for all of us, even after graduating from the National Film School.

If you would like to help but are unable to make a financial contribution, we would deeply appreciate it if you could share our campaign with friends and family or on your social media to broaden our outreach.

From the whole team we wish to thank you very much for any support given.

- Mark & Hana