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“Stories of Their Pain and Personal Struggle”: Director Paddy Breathnach | Viva
Viva In every film, there is the story that you knew you were telling, the story the audience perceives. But there is always some other story, a secret story. It might be the result of your hidden motivations for making the film, or, instead, the result of themes that only became clear to you after you made the movie. It might be something very personal, or it might be a story you didn’t even know you were telling. What is your film’s secret story?
In terms of hidden motivations or narratives I’d say if they are there they are woven deep into the texture and substance of the film: emotional trace elements of songs or performances seen and heard whilst researching in Havana: powerful stories too told to us by the drag performers we met, stories of their pain and personal struggle which we carried with us into the heart of our story. There is, too, to some extent an element of social allegory at work in the film. It was a theme that our cast picked up on in rehearsal. It is perhaps the ‘secret’ they enjoyed playing the most.
[PREMIERE SCREENING: Friday, January 22 at 9:00pm — Broadway Centre Cinema 6]
