Galway student accepted for Cannes short film festival

A Galway film student's documentary about "empty nest" syndrome has been accepted for  the Cannes Film Festival's short film corner next month.

Luke Morgan (20) from Oughterard, Co Galway persuaded his own mother, Deirdre Curran, to play the lead-role in the five-minute monologue, Pockets.

“She didn’t actually want to do it, but I talked her into it on the basis that no one would see it !” Morgan told The Irish Times.

Morgan, who attended Coláiste Éinde secondary school in Galway, is a published poet and writer and a final year student at Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology’s (GMIT) Centre for Creative Arts and Media.

He explained that he set out to make the short documentary as “an exercise in directing someone who had never acted before”.

“I have to say my mother gave an excellent performance,” he said.

The film depicts a woman torn between the relief of “no longer having to lift dirty socks and empty pockets” and her devastation at the enormous change in her domestic life.

GMIT film and documentary programme chair Céline Curtin said it was a “terrific achievement”, and a “remarkable opportunity for a very talented student”.

“Cannes is an opportunity for Luke to show his writing and directing skills, and his classmates are really thrilled,”she said.

“Luke was constantly making films outside of his class projects, and that sort of approach always shows where the real passion is,”she said.

Morgan, who was guest performer at last week’s Cúirt international festival of literary’s “grand slam” in Galway, has had new writing published in Britain’s Poetry Review, the Poetry Ireland Review, The Moth, Crannog , and The Irish Independent.

His film festival contributions include the Clones Film Festival, Richard Harris Film festival and University College Dublin's film festival.

His feature-length screenplay, Ewetopia, has just been short listed for the Hot Press writing award.

In January he co-founded The Theatre Room, an initiative that puts on monthly performances and original one-act plays in a living room.

His younger brother Jake, who has been studying musical score composing, is due to travel to Bulgaria this summer.

Morgan said that he was delighted to be travelling to Cannes on May 15th.

“I had chanced my arm, submitting the short and paying a €95 fee which is returned if you don’t get accepted,”he said.

“I was recently a bit short of money and thought at least I’d have the 95 euro back soon in my account,”he said.

“Instead, I got an email to say I’d been successful...”

His GMIT lecturer Felim MacDermot said Morgan was a “great ambassador” for the college’s film and documentary course, and a “very focussed and drivenself-starter”.

His scriptwriting lecturer Julia Roddy said paid tribute to Morgan's "ability to deliver emotional, complex narratives that are laced with dry humour".

“His boldness and originalityare both provocative and fresh and he deserves to be amongst the best,”she said.

Cannes Film Festival confirmed that Mr Morgan's submission is one of 16 Irish accepted for the short film corner, which is a marketplace event that takes place during the festival and is aimed at nurturing young talent. Films are accepted if they meet professional standards, according to a festival spokesman, and are available in a digital film library but are not screened.

* This article was edited on April 29th, 2015