A NORTH Belfast writer-director is set to premiere a new short film, which tells the eerie story of a séance on the Titanic.
‘Belfast 1912’ will make its Belfast premiere at the Strand Arts Centre on Thursday (October 28) as a finalist in the Dark Hedges Film Festival.
Originally from North Belfast, it has been written and directed by Dominic O’Neill, who also shot the film in a pre-1900 house in North Belfast, with authentic props and costumes of the period.
“We needed somewhere that could feasibly double for a ship's cabin,” he explained.
“Through misdirection the audience would assume we were in a living room of the period, until the terrifying last moments when they realise that we're actually onboard the Titanic.
“Filming during the Covid lockdown had its challenges. We had fantastic actors and crew lined up for the shoot when the location fell through with just days to spare. We couldn’t believe our luck when we happened upon this house, which fitted the aesthetic and feel we were after. We soon learned it also had an extraordinary link to the subject.”
When researching the history of the house, they discovered that a Titanic victim had lived in the house at the time of the disaster. Described on the census as an 'unmarried electrician',
Albert George Ervine lived with his parents at the house, before setting off as a crew member on the Titanic.
Like many, he posted a letter to his mother from Queenstown, Co Cork, reassuring her of the safety of the ship. The letter has survived. Albert's body, if found, was never identified. At only 18, he was the youngest crew member to die in the tragedy.
Dominic added: “As we walked through the house where Albert lived, before he took his final trip to work in April 1912, we felt overwhelmed that our little production could be so connected to its subject matter. A young man, barely an adult in our times, toiling to keep lights and radio operational as the ship sank. How many lives did his efforts save that day?”
The film has its world premiere at the Indie Cork Festival in September and is showing in a number of film festivals in the US and Canada where it's up for awards at the Magic of Horror Festival in Virginia, American Horrors Film Festival in Wisconsin and the Vancouver Horror Show.
