Cassidy’s multi-award-winning short, Displaced, on Dublin TV this week…
Fresh from it’s latest award – the top prize or ‘Grand Prix’ in Morocco’s prestigious Cap Spartel International Film Festival in the cultural city of Tangier, Cassidy’s new film ‘Displaced’ can be seen each evening this week on Dublin’s community television station, DCTV (Channel 802 on Virgin Media), at 7.15pm.
The film has now won several awards, ahead of it’s TV debut. Cap Spartel saw well known names of the African and international film industry gathered for the three-day event, centred in the historic Alcazar Cinema. It was there, on the final award ceremony evening, that film maker, Declan Cassidy, learned that his 18 minute social film ‘Displaced’ had been chosen, by an international jury of notable industry professionals, to receive the Grand Prix.
“To be honest, it was a real surprise,” admitted Cassidy. “To be among the 10 finalists in the international competition was a big deal, and the other nine films were of a really high standard. To be selected as the winner among them felt like a double win.”
Displaced, funded by Coimisiún na Meán under its Sound and Vision initiative, had been a groundbreaking film from day one. The entire crew and cast were sourced through the TikTok social media platform – a decision which found the film maker dealing with almost 6,000 emails from a diverse range of both professionals and rank amateurs who wanted to be part of the project.
“I certainly didn’t expect the response, and it was a long, slow process sorting through all the applicants for both the cast and the crew, but it was really worthwhile in the end,” explained Cassidy. “If I’d gone through the traditional route of a casting agent or a call out in the actor platforms, I’d never have reached some of the people who ended up in the film. We had some highly experienced actors, but a lot of them had never acted before. When we’d finally whittled the numbers down to our final crew and cast, we were such a tight family and there was a buzz of motivation that you could feel.”
The film follows two unrelated stories that come together in the end to provide the film with its climax. The first story is of a couple with a first-world problem. Catey has made a mess of what should have been a straighforward task – getting tickets for the final gig of her girlfriend’s favourite singer as a birthday gift. There is one last chance to put things right and save her relationship. The second story is existential. Stefan, a somewhat introvert Polish telesales worker is ousted from his Dublin accommodation when his landlady dies and, having neither family or close friends to fall back on, takes to living in a tent by the Grand Canal so that he doesn’t spend his meagre which he will need as a deposit on a new place to live – if he can find one!
“The head of the Cap Spartel jury singled out the lead character, Stefan, for special mention,” said Cassidy. “The part was played by Jakub Keringer who had never acted before. I told him he had done a marvellous job, but it’s always nice to hear it from one of Africa’s leading film critics instead of the film’s director.”
The film also included six tracks from various artists who allowed the film maker to feature their work in Displaced.
“Much of the film takes place in a barber’s shop – shot at The Dublin Barber in Irishtown – so it was a perfect opportunity to showcase some music ‘on the radio’ in the background,” said Cassidy. “Similarly, we turned a mobile phone shop, Ammobile, into a buy and sell store so we had Little Fires – a track by Paul Francis Kelly, playing in the background as Stefan tried to pawn his father’s watch.”
The other tracks that feature in the film are Blood Ties from Rayche P’s Bigotry and Blood , New Direction from Brew, Feeling Free from Arianna Siliprandi , Blair Witch House’s Faking Sleep, Changing Colours by Four Way Mirror and two songs from Lunn – T’as de beaux yeux, tu sais and Smokey Dancer. The theme song for the film was written especially for the project by UK band Be-Aclectics, was ‘Location, location, location‘, which is the name of the overall project including the film Displaced and a half-hour documentary, The Lone Stranger, which discusses the themes evoked by the film, featuring the vice president of multicultural non-profit organisation Hands 4 Unity, Jasmine Mathews.
“This is the fifth award that we’ve won but it’s the first festival that we’ve actually attended, and, of course, it was the Grand Prix, so not just a subcategory, so it’s extra special,” explained Cassidy. “We’re currently shortlisted for two festivals in Italy and for Niagara Falls, so the story may well have another chapter!”