0:00:24 > 0:00:29Hello and welcome to another Arts Show, our monthly guide to
0:00:29 > 0:00:34what's being made, seen and talked about in arts and entertainment.
0:00:34 > 0:00:36We've a packed show, here's what's coming up.
0:00:36 > 0:00:40Cyprus Avenue is the new shockingly violent
0:00:40 > 0:00:42black comedy from playwright David Ireland.
0:00:42 > 0:00:45Starring Stephen Rea as a disaffected Loyalist,
0:00:45 > 0:00:47it has just opened at Dublin's Abbey Theatre.
0:00:47 > 0:00:48The Arts Show was there.
0:00:49 > 0:00:52His debut feature film, The Survivalist,
0:00:52 > 0:00:53was nominated for a BAFTA.
0:00:53 > 0:00:58We talk to its writer and director, local man Stephen Fingleton.
0:00:58 > 0:01:00The world as we rarely see it.
0:01:00 > 0:01:03We visit an exhibition of extraordinary scientific
0:01:03 > 0:01:07images as art in Derry/Londonderry.
0:01:07 > 0:01:10And there's live jazz from the MAC Theatre's current
0:01:10 > 0:01:13Artist in Residence, David Lyttle.
0:01:13 > 0:01:14I'm tweeting now...
0:01:17 > 0:01:21But first, Secretary of State Theresa Villiers said earlier
0:01:21 > 0:01:25this month that she believes that we are closer than ever before
0:01:25 > 0:01:28to finding a way forward in dealing with our troubled past.
0:01:28 > 0:01:31So it seems timely that today sees the cinema release
0:01:31 > 0:01:36of The Truth Commissioner based on David Park's 2008
0:01:36 > 0:01:39political thriller, which sees a fictional body set up here
0:01:39 > 0:01:44based on the South African Truth and Reconciliation model.
0:01:44 > 0:01:45The coming months will tell
0:01:45 > 0:01:48whether Northern Ireland is ready to face the truth about its past
0:01:48 > 0:01:53or whether the past is too present to contemplate.
0:01:53 > 0:01:56The film will be broadcast on BBC One Northern Ireland next month.
0:01:58 > 0:02:01We sent three commentators to review and discuss
0:02:01 > 0:02:04whether such a commission could really happen here.
0:02:04 > 0:02:07No-one's asking anyone to forget.
0:02:07 > 0:02:09We try to get at the truth.
0:02:09 > 0:02:13After that, people make up their own minds, make their own futures,
0:02:13 > 0:02:15hopefully for the better.
0:02:15 > 0:02:17Well, I suppose what I was looking at it from
0:02:17 > 0:02:19my reporting perspective.
0:02:19 > 0:02:21What interested me most in the film
0:02:21 > 0:02:23were the plays offstage, if you like.
0:02:23 > 0:02:26The big efforts to conceal truth.
0:02:26 > 0:02:29Even when people think they have truth, they haven't.
0:02:29 > 0:02:33I started watching it thinking, you know, this is a bit far-fetched.
0:02:33 > 0:02:36You know? Where are we going here?
0:02:36 > 0:02:41But I have to say that it certainly was compulsive viewing.
0:02:41 > 0:02:43I had to watch it to the end.
0:02:43 > 0:02:47As far as the whole issue of truth, et cetera,
0:02:47 > 0:02:49it certainly showed the very dark underbelly.
0:02:49 > 0:02:53Nobody came out with their hands clean.
0:02:53 > 0:02:56Everyone was tarred with the brush, if you like,
0:02:56 > 0:02:59of secrets and conspiracy.
0:02:59 > 0:03:01I approach this from two perspectives.
0:03:01 > 0:03:03One was, what would a truth commission look like?
0:03:03 > 0:03:07What would it achieve? I wanted to see how accurate
0:03:07 > 0:03:10or otherwise that might be. The second thing was that
0:03:10 > 0:03:12I wanted to see what it was like as a drama.
0:03:12 > 0:03:14And I have to confess, I was disappointed in both.
0:03:14 > 0:03:17I think if you were going to base a truth commission on what
0:03:17 > 0:03:19is in this, you wouldn't go down that road.
0:03:19 > 0:03:21I would advise people to do something else.
0:03:21 > 0:03:25Still bringing the truth to unbelievers, Henry?
0:03:25 > 0:03:27Why am I not surprised to see you here?
0:03:27 > 0:03:30I see you've befriended Gunman Of The Year 1990.
0:03:30 > 0:03:33They tell me he's travelled a long way since then.
0:03:33 > 0:03:36What do you hope an audience to take from The Truth Commissioner?
0:03:36 > 0:03:39I think what they'll take from it is the complexity of the situation
0:03:39 > 0:03:41up here.
0:03:41 > 0:03:43You know, I think that's what drew me to the story, both the book
0:03:43 > 0:03:45and then to Eoin's adaptation.
0:03:45 > 0:03:47When you read David's book, Eoin,
0:03:47 > 0:03:49what was it that grabbed you about it?
0:03:49 > 0:03:53It was quite daring in its proposition.
0:03:53 > 0:03:56It's as what we know to be a case, which is that, in fact,
0:03:56 > 0:03:57it's more complicated than it seems,
0:03:57 > 0:04:00people are not as obvious as they seem.
0:04:00 > 0:04:01Given a chance,
0:04:01 > 0:04:04people might do better than they appear to do in everyday life.
0:04:04 > 0:04:05And it got us out of
0:04:05 > 0:04:08the whataboutery, which is the curse of this place,
0:04:08 > 0:04:10into something more interesting as an argument.
0:04:10 > 0:04:12- He was only a kid.- He was there.
0:04:13 > 0:04:15And all his people are dead. He can accept responsibility
0:04:15 > 0:04:18and go back to the States as if nothing had happened.
0:04:18 > 0:04:19Neither you nor I can do that.
0:04:19 > 0:04:22While I don't think the truth commission as set out in this
0:04:22 > 0:04:25film is what a truth process will look like,
0:04:25 > 0:04:28if it ever comes to that point... I think Park
0:04:28 > 0:04:30talked about in the novel -
0:04:30 > 0:04:33pre-learned vague statements of regret.
0:04:33 > 0:04:36And I think, by and large, that's what we saw in the film.
0:04:36 > 0:04:39I was a soldier fighting in a war.
0:04:41 > 0:04:44At that time I felt the victim represented a legitimate
0:04:44 > 0:04:45target in that war.
0:04:45 > 0:04:48The simple, "Tell me the truth or not at all,"
0:04:48 > 0:04:50isn't going to happen.
0:04:50 > 0:04:52Absolutely, it's so much more and so much more complex,
0:04:52 > 0:04:55it isn't just truth, it's about understanding,
0:04:55 > 0:04:59it's about justice, it's about so much more.
0:04:59 > 0:05:02People sharing futures and all of that.
0:05:02 > 0:05:06I think we will not get to further information or further
0:05:06 > 0:05:08explanation or truth, if you want to call it that,
0:05:08 > 0:05:10while there is still
0:05:10 > 0:05:14the possibility within the process of people being investigated.
0:05:14 > 0:05:17So until we get over that jump, I think we're
0:05:17 > 0:05:21a million miles away from a truth commission.
0:05:21 > 0:05:23And who speaks for the victims and the rest?
0:05:23 > 0:05:25Well, I think that's the thing, I think
0:05:25 > 0:05:27that's the thing that maybe I didn't really
0:05:27 > 0:05:29get enough of in this, in a way.
0:05:29 > 0:05:32That would be regrettable if those voices weren't heard.
0:05:32 > 0:05:36- How are you going to survive these people?- They don't look so bad.
0:05:37 > 0:05:41Don't go lifting stones, unless you know what's underneath them.
0:05:41 > 0:05:44- Is that a message?- Yes.
0:05:44 > 0:05:47Unless you still want to be here in 2020, narrow the brief.
0:05:47 > 0:05:50Roger, we know you, having played political figures before,
0:05:50 > 0:05:53The Thick Of It, you were in Michael Frayn's Democracy...
0:05:53 > 0:05:57But when you are bringing it to a process that is still happening,
0:05:57 > 0:06:00does that give you an extra charge as an actor?
0:06:00 > 0:06:04Well, it's not something that you're necessarily aware of
0:06:04 > 0:06:05when you're shooting a scene
0:06:05 > 0:06:09but all the time, you're kind of...
0:06:09 > 0:06:11I'm aware of it in my head.
0:06:11 > 0:06:14I think the telling of this story
0:06:14 > 0:06:19and the telling of many stories about Northern Ireland, that may be
0:06:19 > 0:06:21one of the ways in which the truth
0:06:21 > 0:06:24or the various truths will be aired.
0:06:26 > 0:06:27Was this your idea?
0:06:27 > 0:06:30I've been instructed to protect you to make sure the right
0:06:30 > 0:06:31things are said.
0:06:31 > 0:06:34- You mean you're protecting yourself...- Francis...
0:06:34 > 0:06:36Keep your voice down.
0:06:38 > 0:06:42It feels that it's a very grown-up, political drama.
0:06:42 > 0:06:44As an actor and as someone from here,
0:06:44 > 0:06:48is that the kind of Belfast that you want reflected further afield?
0:06:48 > 0:06:51I think it's important to remember that it's fiction
0:06:51 > 0:06:55and so this is a what-if scenario.
0:06:55 > 0:06:58So what if hawks did get in with the peacemakers and the doves?
0:06:58 > 0:07:01What if there was someone in there who was deliberately trying
0:07:01 > 0:07:03to undermine the whole process?
0:07:03 > 0:07:07You're not planning some kind of a putsch, are you, Johnny?
0:07:07 > 0:07:10All I'm trying to do is to keep your name out of it.
0:07:10 > 0:07:13You cannot appear before that commission.
0:07:13 > 0:07:16Just admitting you were there would be the end of you.
0:07:16 > 0:07:17The end of all of us.
0:07:17 > 0:07:22There are people still alive for whom the Troubles were very real.
0:07:22 > 0:07:24Did you feel an added pressure because of this, Eoin?
0:07:24 > 0:07:26Yeah, we did.
0:07:26 > 0:07:27Because again,
0:07:27 > 0:07:31the question as to what closure is is very key to the book.
0:07:31 > 0:07:33I mean, is closure a nonsense?
0:07:33 > 0:07:35The idea of it, is it an illusion?
0:07:35 > 0:07:38Or is it something that we should strive to give people?
0:07:38 > 0:07:42And there are people out there who are suffering.
0:07:42 > 0:07:44The book isn't about them in particular
0:07:44 > 0:07:49but there's no doubt that we try to acknowledge their existence
0:07:49 > 0:07:55and answer some of the questions as to...how can we proceed?
0:07:55 > 0:07:58I deeply regret the pain and suffering caused to his family.
0:08:01 > 0:08:06What's good about this, at the very least, is it shows on screen
0:08:06 > 0:08:08what it could look like
0:08:08 > 0:08:11and it starts the debate as to what it should or shouldn't look like.
0:08:11 > 0:08:14And that's a very, very valuable and very,
0:08:14 > 0:08:17very topical point of departure.
0:08:17 > 0:08:21I think the big conversation that needs to be had is what is
0:08:21 > 0:08:25realistically achievable but also an honesty about what is not doable.
0:08:25 > 0:08:28I used the term recently that it's time to stop lying about the truth
0:08:28 > 0:08:33and what I mean is it's time to be more honest about what is disclosed.
0:08:33 > 0:08:37So I think the film, in all of its drama,
0:08:37 > 0:08:41has possibly delivered an ugly truth.
0:08:41 > 0:08:44That what people are looking for is just not achievable.
0:08:44 > 0:08:46Yeah, and I think
0:08:46 > 0:08:51what a commission of this kind will do is open things up in a way
0:08:51 > 0:08:53that hasn't been done before,
0:08:53 > 0:08:57it is to be hoped, but it certainly won't bring anything to an end.
0:08:57 > 0:08:59Have you anything else to add?
0:09:03 > 0:09:04No.
0:09:06 > 0:09:07Thank you.
0:09:10 > 0:09:14You don't usually get science on The Arts Show
0:09:14 > 0:09:18but an exhibition of extraordinary images opened in Derry this month,
0:09:18 > 0:09:21as part of the Northern Ireland Science Festival.
0:09:21 > 0:09:23The Royal Photographic Society's
0:09:23 > 0:09:25International Images For Science exhibition
0:09:25 > 0:09:30celebrates the interplay between art and science.
0:09:30 > 0:09:33Many of these photos provide a fascinating glimpse into our world
0:09:33 > 0:09:38as we rarely see it, producing unlikely works of art.
0:09:46 > 0:09:49What we're looking at here is actually a section through
0:09:49 > 0:09:51the stem of a palm plant
0:09:51 > 0:09:54and this is where water is transported up through
0:09:54 > 0:09:56the stems towards the leaves.
0:10:00 > 0:10:04Science provides a quite astonishing wealth of
0:10:04 > 0:10:06subject matter for photography.
0:10:11 > 0:10:16What we have here is a photograph of some soap bubbles
0:10:16 > 0:10:20and the colours come from interference patterns through
0:10:20 > 0:10:23the different thicknesses of the soap bubble
0:10:23 > 0:10:25and it forms a beautiful array of colour.
0:10:28 > 0:10:30Anyone can look at a great picture and think,
0:10:30 > 0:10:32"Wow, I wonder what that is."
0:10:39 > 0:10:43Here we have a piece of polystyrene that is seen through
0:10:43 > 0:10:47a scanning electron microscope and this was made by freezing
0:10:47 > 0:10:51the sample and then breaking it so it forms a very sharp edge.
0:10:51 > 0:10:54So you can see all the small pockets of air.
0:10:57 > 0:11:01A very wide range of people have taken the pictures that we see here.
0:11:01 > 0:11:05They range from schoolchildren through to senior researchers
0:11:05 > 0:11:08working with very expensive equipment in very,
0:11:08 > 0:11:09very expensive labs.
0:11:15 > 0:11:18The only exhibitor from Northern Ireland is bioscientist
0:11:18 > 0:11:20Dr Steven Lowry.
0:11:21 > 0:11:23This is a thin section of a hen's tongue,
0:11:23 > 0:11:26which has been stained to show up blood vessels
0:11:26 > 0:11:31and then additional colours added by using polarising and gypsum filters.
0:11:33 > 0:11:37I've been collecting old microscope slides for quite a long time now
0:11:37 > 0:11:39and this was among the slides which
0:11:39 > 0:11:41I've brought in as part of my collection.
0:11:41 > 0:11:43I used to take photographs for a living,
0:11:43 > 0:11:45I now take them for pleasure.
0:11:47 > 0:11:51Some very common household objects can produce amazing photographs.
0:11:55 > 0:11:59Substances like sugar, which are in pure crystalline form,
0:11:59 > 0:12:02can produce really interesting shapes and structures
0:12:02 > 0:12:04when you look at them under the microscope.
0:12:06 > 0:12:08When wine is stored,
0:12:08 > 0:12:12tiny little crystals of potassium bitartrate form in the wine
0:12:12 > 0:12:14and these produce lovely images.
0:12:14 > 0:12:17One of the foliage plants which you may have in the garden is
0:12:17 > 0:12:19a thing called Elaeagnus.
0:12:19 > 0:12:22And if you look closely at the leaves of the plant,
0:12:22 > 0:12:24you'll see tiny little silver hairs
0:12:24 > 0:12:26and these produce amazing patterns when you look at them
0:12:26 > 0:12:28under the microscope.
0:12:31 > 0:12:33It's a celebration of the way photography
0:12:33 > 0:12:35and science work together...
0:12:37 > 0:12:39..as works of art.
0:12:39 > 0:12:41They have a beauty, they engage,
0:12:41 > 0:12:45they capture your imagination and your sight even without
0:12:45 > 0:12:48knowing anything necessarily about why they were created.
0:12:55 > 0:12:59Writing a black comedy about a disaffected East Belfast Loyalist
0:12:59 > 0:13:03who believes that his five-week old granddaughter is Gerry Adams,
0:13:03 > 0:13:06is trademark David Ireland humour.
0:13:06 > 0:13:09Stephen Rea plays Eric Miller in Cyprus Avenue
0:13:09 > 0:13:13and takes one man's identity crisis to the limits.
0:13:13 > 0:13:16Aren't you the best baby in Belfast? Aren't you?
0:13:16 > 0:13:19The best wee baby in the whole of Belfast.
0:13:19 > 0:13:21Well, we don't know that.
0:13:21 > 0:13:24- What?- It's not very scientific. - What are you talking about?
0:13:24 > 0:13:26We don't know that this is the best baby in Belfast.
0:13:26 > 0:13:28There might be better babies.
0:13:28 > 0:13:31What way is that talk about your own granddaughter - "better babies"?
0:13:31 > 0:13:35The central idea of the play - about this man, Eric Miller,
0:13:35 > 0:13:37who thinks that...
0:13:37 > 0:13:39He's positive his granddaughter looks like Gerry Adams
0:13:39 > 0:13:40and then that she IS Gerry Adams.
0:13:40 > 0:13:43It's an incredible kind of potent,
0:13:43 > 0:13:46kind of extraordinary, imaginative and mad idea.
0:13:46 > 0:13:52This baby is the most gorgeous, cutest baby in the whole wide world.
0:13:52 > 0:13:54- I doubt it.- What?- Nothing.
0:13:54 > 0:13:56I think David is one of the...
0:13:56 > 0:13:59Is emerging as one of the finest writers in the English language.
0:13:59 > 0:14:02And that's a big thing to say but I think he's extraordinary
0:14:02 > 0:14:05and he does this extraordinary mixture of kind of high humour,
0:14:05 > 0:14:08very, very black humour that he is becoming known for.
0:14:08 > 0:14:12What is wrong with you? What is actually wrong with you?
0:14:12 > 0:14:16- Mum, he's just joking.- I'm not. - He's not joking.- I'm really not.
0:14:16 > 0:14:17I can't write a normal play.
0:14:17 > 0:14:21I've tried to and every time I try to write a normal play
0:14:21 > 0:14:23it always blows up in my face, so...
0:14:23 > 0:14:25I seem to be drawn to ideas that
0:14:25 > 0:14:27other people consider bizarre.
0:14:27 > 0:14:32- So in what way did... Her name again?- Mary Mae.
0:14:32 > 0:14:34In what way did Mary Mae, your granddaughter,
0:14:34 > 0:14:36in what way did she,
0:14:36 > 0:14:40could she closely resemble a man 60 years her senior?
0:14:40 > 0:14:43- Round about the eyes.- Her eyes?
0:14:43 > 0:14:47Have you ever heard the expression, "Fenian eyes"?
0:14:47 > 0:14:48No.
0:14:48 > 0:14:51Very Fenian-looking, especially round the eyes.
0:14:51 > 0:14:55There is this fundamental question about what it is like to be
0:14:55 > 0:14:59a Protestant in the post-Troubles Northern Ireland.
0:14:59 > 0:15:01Is that what you're getting at with this play?
0:15:01 > 0:15:05I think in a lot of Irish fiction and drama,
0:15:05 > 0:15:09the Loyalist case or the Loyalist identity is something that is
0:15:09 > 0:15:11not taken, you know, very seriously.
0:15:11 > 0:15:13Not that this play particularly takes it seriously
0:15:13 > 0:15:16but it's very complicated, you know,
0:15:16 > 0:15:19and I wanted to write a play that would reflect that.
0:15:19 > 0:15:23- Are you familiar with the song When Irish Eyes Are Smiling?- No.
0:15:23 > 0:15:28# When Irish eyes are smiling
0:15:28 > 0:15:31# Sure, the world smiles with them too... #
0:15:32 > 0:15:37They have all the songs. Our songs are pitiful alongside theirs.
0:15:37 > 0:15:41Most rebel songs are sentimental and self-serving but not that one,
0:15:41 > 0:15:43that one is true.
0:15:43 > 0:15:46A Protestant's eyes never smile
0:15:46 > 0:15:49unless it's absolutely necessary.
0:15:49 > 0:15:52But Irish eyes are forever smiling.
0:15:53 > 0:15:55That's how you tell the difference.
0:15:55 > 0:16:01The Irish smile as they kill and, as they destroy, they sing.
0:16:01 > 0:16:03MUSIC: Cyprus Avenue by Van Morrison
0:16:03 > 0:16:05# Well, I'm caught one more time
0:16:05 > 0:16:09# Up on Cyprus Avenue... #
0:16:09 > 0:16:14People who know Cyprus Avenue know it's a very well-heeled, tree-lined
0:16:14 > 0:16:15middle-class boulevard.
0:16:15 > 0:16:18It's not the place that you would immediately associate with
0:16:18 > 0:16:20dysfunctional Loyalism.
0:16:20 > 0:16:24He's taking this relatively middle-class man,
0:16:24 > 0:16:28a Protestant, obviously, but a middle-class man who,
0:16:28 > 0:16:32at this moment in his life, goes into some kind of psychosis
0:16:32 > 0:16:34and as a result of that, the victims of his self-loathing
0:16:34 > 0:16:37are his closest family, all of whom are women.
0:16:37 > 0:16:39You never had any interest in babies anyway.
0:16:39 > 0:16:43- Even when you were born, he didn't care.- That's not true, is it Dad?
0:16:43 > 0:16:44Oh, that is true.
0:16:44 > 0:16:47When you were born I didn't understand what all the fuss
0:16:47 > 0:16:49was about.
0:16:49 > 0:16:53- I didn't really get you.- Daddy! - I like you now.
0:16:53 > 0:16:56I started liking you from you were about 12.
0:16:56 > 0:16:59That is the atrocity, really, that the history and the trauma
0:16:59 > 0:17:04of his past and the past around him has turned him in on his own future.
0:17:04 > 0:17:06Ten years ago I was in London, so I was.
0:17:06 > 0:17:08The centre of the Empire.
0:17:08 > 0:17:10And it felt like there were more Irish there than there
0:17:10 > 0:17:12were in Ireland.
0:17:12 > 0:17:17English voices, Cockney voices calling themselves Irish.
0:17:17 > 0:17:20You've no idea what that does to a Unionist mind like mine.
0:17:20 > 0:17:23I've been writing this play for four years, I started writing
0:17:23 > 0:17:27it four years ago, so it's hard to believe it's actually going ahead.
0:17:27 > 0:17:30I thought that it would never actually get produced.
0:17:30 > 0:17:32But then The Abbey and The Royal Court take it
0:17:32 > 0:17:34and then you get Stephen Rea in the lead role.
0:17:34 > 0:17:36Yeah, well, I wrote it for Stephen before I knew him
0:17:36 > 0:17:39and I thought, "There's no way he would ever do it."
0:17:39 > 0:17:41In line with the government requirements,
0:17:41 > 0:17:43Mr Adams' voice is replaced by that of an actor.
0:17:43 > 0:17:46Does Stephen's own actual backstory,
0:17:46 > 0:17:48including the fact that he voiced
0:17:48 > 0:17:50Gerry Adams' words during the broadcasting ban,
0:17:50 > 0:17:54add a historical frisson to him playing this part?
0:17:54 > 0:17:56I knew he'd understand the depth and the humour of it.
0:17:56 > 0:18:00Or he'd find the depth in it, whereas other actors might struggle
0:18:00 > 0:18:03because it might seem like a flippant or superficial play.
0:18:03 > 0:18:08But it's funny because other people have mentioned the broadcasting ban
0:18:08 > 0:18:10and I knew that Stephen had voiced Gerry Adams
0:18:10 > 0:18:12but I didn't realise everybody else knew that.
0:18:12 > 0:18:14I thought that was a little nugget of information that
0:18:14 > 0:18:16only I knew. But he wasn't the only actor, there was
0:18:16 > 0:18:18a lot of actors who voiced Gerry Adams.
0:18:18 > 0:18:21There's also a reference to Interview With The Vampire as well.
0:18:21 > 0:18:23Why aren't there Protestant vampires?
0:18:23 > 0:18:25Yeah, where are all the Protestant vampires?
0:18:25 > 0:18:27Yeah, when will our stories be told?
0:18:27 > 0:18:29# If you're Irish
0:18:29 > 0:18:31# Come into the parlour
0:18:31 > 0:18:35# There's a welcome there for you
0:18:35 > 0:18:39# If your name is Timothy or Pat
0:18:39 > 0:18:41# So long as you're not a Protestant
0:18:41 > 0:18:43# There's a welcome on the mat... #
0:18:43 > 0:18:47- Has Gerry Adams been invited to see the play?- I don't know.
0:18:47 > 0:18:49I think if The Abbey's lawyers were here...
0:18:49 > 0:18:53they would instruct me not to answer that question.
0:18:53 > 0:18:55I don't think... The fact that it's Gerry Adams...
0:18:55 > 0:18:58I think when a lot of people heard I was writing this they think,
0:18:58 > 0:19:00"Oh, it's a play about Gerry Adams."
0:19:00 > 0:19:03Gerry Adams is just the object of this character's obsession,
0:19:03 > 0:19:08it's really got very little to do with the real Gerry Adams.
0:19:08 > 0:19:10Because I don't know the real Gerry Adams.
0:19:11 > 0:19:15- Not yet.- Not yet, who knows? Maybe we'll become friends through this.
0:19:15 > 0:19:17# We'll sing you a song We'll make a fuss
0:19:17 > 0:19:19# We'll blow up a building or maybe a bus
0:19:19 > 0:19:21# If you're Irish this is the place for you. #
0:19:23 > 0:19:27The Survivalist is the BAFTA-nominated debut feature film
0:19:27 > 0:19:31from Northern Irish writer-director Stephen Fingleton.
0:19:31 > 0:19:33Starring Belfast actor Martin McCann,
0:19:33 > 0:19:37it was shot entirely on location in Northern Ireland and has been
0:19:37 > 0:19:41described as Mad Max in the countryside.
0:19:41 > 0:19:45Its post-apocalyptic bleakness has garnered international acclaim,
0:19:45 > 0:19:48gaining a fan in none other than Robert De Niro,
0:19:48 > 0:19:51who screened it at his Tribeca Film Festival
0:19:51 > 0:19:52in New York City.
0:19:52 > 0:19:56The film was released earlier this month. We met up with its creator.
0:20:05 > 0:20:08The world of the film is very unusual.
0:20:08 > 0:20:13It's set in a time after society seems to have collapsed
0:20:13 > 0:20:15but the natural environment, the ecology,
0:20:15 > 0:20:18the forest in which the film is set is thriving.
0:20:18 > 0:20:23And this is very unusual. Typically in post-event films,
0:20:23 > 0:20:26you're seeing wastelands, desert and things like this.
0:20:26 > 0:20:27This is the reverse.
0:20:27 > 0:20:29The environment is getting along fine,
0:20:29 > 0:20:31there's just a lot less people.
0:20:37 > 0:20:41I wanted to show a world where our kind of social norms
0:20:41 > 0:20:44no longer applied
0:20:44 > 0:20:49and people are essentially depicted almost like animals.
0:20:53 > 0:20:55Surely you can spare something.
0:20:56 > 0:20:58There's more than enough.
0:21:01 > 0:21:03That's what THEY all thought.
0:21:03 > 0:21:07The film, essentially, is a suspense movie about these three
0:21:07 > 0:21:10characters and, because of the nature of the environment
0:21:10 > 0:21:13they're in, you know they've all killed to survive.
0:21:13 > 0:21:17They've done whatever it takes. So whatever transactions occur,
0:21:17 > 0:21:21whatever conversations or physical encounters,
0:21:21 > 0:21:24it's just the surface.
0:21:24 > 0:21:28Beneath it, there's a range of violence they're capable of,
0:21:28 > 0:21:30which makes it very, very tense.
0:21:30 > 0:21:33You never know what a character's going to do next.
0:21:34 > 0:21:35FLOORBOARDS CREAK
0:21:35 > 0:21:37HEAVY BREATHING
0:21:39 > 0:21:42The script made it onto the Hollywood blacklist,
0:21:42 > 0:21:47which is a semi-official list of scripts that have been
0:21:47 > 0:21:51voted on by executives, producers
0:21:51 > 0:21:54and other individuals.
0:21:54 > 0:21:56And it's basically an informal way of saying,
0:21:56 > 0:21:59"What have you read this year that you really liked?"
0:21:59 > 0:22:03And it's quite unusual for a small script written by a Northern Irish
0:22:03 > 0:22:06writer to make it onto something like that.
0:22:06 > 0:22:08Particularly as it's a very small story.
0:22:08 > 0:22:10You've got a lot of very, very, very big films.
0:22:10 > 0:22:14The film my script was jointly ranked with was
0:22:14 > 0:22:16made into a movie with Johnny Depp.
0:22:16 > 0:22:18She likes you.
0:22:18 > 0:22:20When I started working with the actors,
0:22:20 > 0:22:23I completely changed the script because, ultimately,
0:22:23 > 0:22:25I don't tell the story, my actors tell the story
0:22:25 > 0:22:28and I need to make sure they're telling the story in their voice
0:22:28 > 0:22:31because that's what's going to be believable.
0:22:31 > 0:22:32We could clear more land.
0:22:33 > 0:22:36- More hands to manage it. - I've managed so far.
0:22:38 > 0:22:39You've been lucky.
0:22:44 > 0:22:46It wasn't luck.
0:22:46 > 0:22:49I knew from the very beginning that, in the first 15 minutes of
0:22:49 > 0:22:53the film, there would be no dialogue because it was a single character.
0:22:53 > 0:22:55That kind of set the tone.
0:22:55 > 0:22:57If there's no dialogue, it's all about sound.
0:22:57 > 0:23:00And we spent a huge amount of time in postproduction
0:23:00 > 0:23:01completely recreating the sound.
0:23:01 > 0:23:04Almost everything in the film has been re-recorded,
0:23:04 > 0:23:06so we can control everything. The wind,
0:23:06 > 0:23:10to the creaking of the steps, to the rattle on a handle and, although
0:23:10 > 0:23:14you mightn't realise that watching it, it has a great effect on you.
0:23:14 > 0:23:18Milja has an interest in music and musical notes and tones.
0:23:18 > 0:23:20She plays with glass,
0:23:20 > 0:23:24she uses a fork to create kind of a tuning sound.
0:23:24 > 0:23:26FORK TWANGS
0:23:30 > 0:23:32The reason that came about into the film was,
0:23:32 > 0:23:35first of all, my sound designer wanted those elements within
0:23:35 > 0:23:38the story to remind the audience of the absence of score.
0:23:38 > 0:23:40But secondly, there's a backstory reason.
0:23:40 > 0:23:42When I talked to Mia about her character,
0:23:42 > 0:23:46we agreed that her father was a composer
0:23:46 > 0:23:48and she will never be able to do what he did
0:23:48 > 0:23:50but she's interested by the idea of music.
0:23:50 > 0:23:52And so that's the reason her character does that.
0:23:52 > 0:23:55Now, the audience doesn't need to know that
0:23:55 > 0:23:57but you feel she's doing it for a reason.
0:23:57 > 0:23:59FORK TWANGS
0:24:03 > 0:24:05Well, it's a really exciting time if you're a new director
0:24:05 > 0:24:08because there's a lot of opportunities if you make
0:24:08 > 0:24:11what is considered to be like one good film, even if it's small,
0:24:11 > 0:24:14you'll have a lot of people knocking on your door
0:24:14 > 0:24:20and I've been fortunate enough to have one particularly great
0:24:20 > 0:24:25company come to me and I'm working on quite a big film to write and
0:24:25 > 0:24:29direct for them, which would be for a kind of mainstream audience.
0:24:29 > 0:24:33The Survivalist will probably be most seen on VOD platforms
0:24:33 > 0:24:37like iTunes and Google Play when it's released.
0:24:37 > 0:24:41But this film is something that will be in every cinema.
0:24:41 > 0:24:44The thing I love about movies is it's art meets commerce.
0:24:44 > 0:24:49If I wanted to have complete control, I would write novels.
0:24:49 > 0:24:53So I enjoy that challenge and I love that other people can help
0:24:53 > 0:24:58bring expertise and show you new ways of finding stories because
0:24:58 > 0:25:00I get very bored stuck in my head
0:25:00 > 0:25:04and I love making something that's more collective.
0:25:04 > 0:25:05I really get a lot of energy from that.
0:25:05 > 0:25:08- HIGH-PITCHED TONE - Shut the door.
0:25:12 > 0:25:16Well, that's almost all we have time for on The Arts Show for this month.
0:25:16 > 0:25:18You can keep up-to-date, though,
0:25:18 > 0:25:22with arts coverage on BBC Radio Ulster's The Arts Show,
0:25:22 > 0:25:25Tuesdays to Fridays at half past six.
0:25:25 > 0:25:28We leave you tonight with some local live music. David Lyttle
0:25:28 > 0:25:32has built up a high profile in the world of jazz.
0:25:32 > 0:25:34He's been nominated for a MOBO award,
0:25:34 > 0:25:39Rolling Stone Magazine glowingly reviewed his 2015 album, Faces,
0:25:39 > 0:25:43he's currently moving on music's artist in residence at the MAC
0:25:43 > 0:25:47and he goes on tour with his trio in April. Here's a sneak preview.
0:25:47 > 0:25:49Goodnight.