The Brendan Voyage

The bould Brendan

aving cut her teeth last year on two pop videos – including one for budding rock god Eoin O’Faherty – fifth year Temple Carrig student Sophie Clarke has taken a major leap forward with her latest adventure into film.

Sophie Clarke

Shot her transition year thesis, Sophie’s sweet short documentary Brendan reveals a real flare for finding the big picture in the small detail.

The eponymous hero in Sophie’s film is Brendan O’Sullivan, something of a local hero in his hometown of Listowel. And sure, no wonder. The lad has the town under his mischievous spell.

Whether it’s pulling the best pints behind the bar at John B. Keane’s, giving the likes of Michael D. Higgins, Ardal O’Hanlon and Sinead O’Connor a selfie surge, or just charming the begiggles out of every fine lady that he meets, young Brendan is perhaps the only truly cool Daniel O’Donnell fan in the world.

Brendan also happens to be related to Sophie, on her mum’s side, and so, when it came to choosing a worthy subject for that TCG film thesis thingy, sure, what better than a wizard, a true star…?

“To be honest,” says Sophie, “I initially thought the film would have a more sombre tone, telling a story of great difficulties growing up as a person with Down Syndrome. I couldn’t have been more wrong…”

Walking into local restaurants or pubs with her chosen subject, Sophie instantly became aware of just how much Listowel loved Brendan. And from his special needs school, Nano Nagle, and St John Of Gods drop-in centre, to the corner shop and the cop shop, each and every person seemed to have an anecdote about Brendan.

And so, with a push out the door from her arty-farty parents, and a few tips on the dos and don’ts from a documentary filmmaker in RTE, Sophie’s biggest task wasn’t getting people to talk – it was deciding in the editing suite which funny story or declaration of love should make it into the final 9 minutes and 15 seconds.

Emily Beattie 25MAR18

Explains Sophie, “I had so much material, that initial shoot sat fragmented and daunting in the editing suite of my dad’s laptop for quite some time, as I tried again and again to make it gel. It was only after enlisting the help of Dublin musician Jason Liu Doyle to create a simple score, and with a friend of mine, Emily Beattie, providing some extra music, that I began to see the end film…”

In the meantime, Sophie got those two music videos done – the other being for Cork three-piece the drive – and set up an Instagram account to help spread the word. The completion of two pop videos in lockdown sparked a rethink of Brendan too.

“After putting together a 30-second trailer for the film, very last minute, I decided to completely recut the film. Change the narrative and make it a film I could really be proud of rather than a half-achieved project that I would forever resent.

“I ended up having to edit it all at once, meaning my train of thought flowed with the film. It still isn’t anything too mind-blowing, in my opinion, but I’m quite happy with the result, and blown away with the amazingly positive feedback…”

Proper feckin’ order. You can get one of your five portions of feelgood a day by watching Brendan below, and you can follow Sophie’s work over on Instagram right here.