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On a tentatively sunny May afternoon, in the humble West Cork town of Schull, hundreds gathered for the opening ceremony of the 18th annual Fastnet Film Festival. Attendees of all ages, backgrounds, and nationalities were brought together by one thing: their shared love of the craft.
Among them were Pip Woolley and Noemie Grandmougin, two UK-based filmmakers whose short secured a spot in the festival.
Directed by Laura Shannon, Dún Do Bhéal (or Shut Your Mouth) centers on a daughter returning to her Irish-speaking hometown after spending several years in London. Once back in the Motherland, Croía must confront language barriers, past traumas, and tensions with her father Cillian that quickly spiral out of control.
While the director herself wasn't present, co-writer Woolley and producer Grandmougin attended Fastnet on the film's behalf. And busy though they were with all the festivities, the pair generously found time to speak about their creative process.
A standout element of the film is its bilingualism. The script alternates between Irish and English, creating a very tangible divide between the characters that transcends their emotional fragmentation. Woolley shared his experience navigating this linguistic and symbolic duality, and how it informed the story's more challenging aspects:
I’m English and I don’t speak Irish, so it was a really interesting process developing the film with Laura. She brought the thematic resonance in terms of Irish as a language in Ireland, how it’s becoming more spoken by young people or the cultural significance it has, and also the prevalence of sexual assault against women in Ireland, and how it’s an epidemic, essentially, that isn’t necessarily talked about as much.
Early on, Shannon conceptualized language as a metaphor for that struggle, as well as an effective way to discuss family dynamics. The main focus of Dún Do Bhéal is a fragile father-daughter relationship that continues to be weathered by their shared stubbornness. Cillian is adamant that Croía report the perpetrator of her past assault, while Croía would rather it all be laid to rest. Her defiant English dialogue clashes with Cillian's Irish parlance, contributing to their calamitous conflict.
"I think we complemented each other quite well," Woolley said of Shannon. "She, like I said, had a really clear vision for the film as the director and as the co-writer, and I had maybe the technical ability to bring it to life."
Using their collective strengths, Shannon and Woolley approached the story's sensitive subject matter in a way that was both respectful and reflective. Above all, the duo was devoted to handling the material delicately, and being considerate of those who have experienced a similar situation.
“We wanted to create an empowering story rather than a re-traumatizing story," Woolley continued, "and we both thought that often in cinema, you see things represented on screen which maybe should not be.”
Grandmougin, who accompanied Shannon to the Cinequest Film & Creativity Festival in San Jose, expressed how rewarding Dún Do Bhéal's festival run was for her and her team:
So much hard work goes into making it and the point is to show it to the world. So it’s just really nice to be able to go to a festival and see that it’s there, see the work that we’ve put in, and see other people appreciating it.
As the film's producer, Grandmougin is no stranger to the festival circuit. She commandeered much of the labyrinthine submission process, which included landing the film's Irish premiere at Fastnet.
“The festival process is always interesting because obviously you apply to a lot of things," Grandmougin said. "It takes time to get responses and everything, but it’s really satisfying and gratifying to be able to see your film [on] a proper screen and have people watch it as well, because that’s what we’re making a film for.”
In addition to Fastnet and Cinequest, Dún Do Bhéal also screened at Manchester Lift-Off Film Festival and St Patrick's Film Festival London, and will be competing at València Indie Film Festival in mid-July.
In the meantime, Woolley and Grandmougin are keeping themselves busy.
"We're actually working on another project together at the moment which I'm directing, Noemie's producing," Woolley said. "It's called Flicker, it's sort of a backwards film."
Woolley described the inverse creative method behind this upcoming film, which begins with its actors rather than its script.
"We're developing everything in rehearsal with the actors," Woolley explained. "And once we develop the script through them, we're going to create the sound design and the soundscape before we shoot anything, because it's about memory."
It doesn't take a seasoned critic or an esteemed filmmaker to recognize this pair's extraordinary ambition and humility—two traits that are difficult to come by, but are sure to get them far in this industry.
