Having recently returned from the premiere of his new film ‘Ordinary Love’ at the prestigious Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), producer Brian J. Falconer is bringing his award-winning film The Dig to a Fermanagh audience next week as part of the Fermanagh Live Arts Festival (FLive).

“With The Dig I always wanted to have a Fermanagh screening because it’s a bit of craic,” said Brian, speaking to The Impartial Reporter.

“I have a great relationship with Ann McDermott of Fermanagh Film Club, and Ann is now the chair of Fermanagh Live so I was very keen to be involved. I brought a film called ‘Land of God’ to a screening at the Old Regal Cinema in 2014 and it was brilliant, it went down really well, so I talked to Ann and Fermanagh Live were keen to do something anyway so we pulled all our resources and got this organised. It’s on in the Old Regal Cinema on Wednesday, October 2 at 8pm,” he added.

Following the screening of The Dig, Brian will be joined by lead actor Moe Dunford and the film’s directors Andy and Ryan Tohill for a Q&A session.

“Moe is such an incredible actor, his performance is completely stand out,” commented Brian.

“We could not have made that film without Moe and as amazing an actor as he is, he is an even better person. He is such a great guy. I floated the idea with him if he was free to come to this, but I had no expectations of him being able to come.

“He knew it was really important to me to do this hometown screening, so he’s effectively changed his schedule to come to Enniskillen for the night to hang out and talk to Fermanagh people about the film and what motivates him. He is one of the top up and coming Irish actors, it will be a really fun Q&A.”

Brian went on to explain that The Dig was directors Andy and Ryan’s debut feature film as well.

“They are two of the top, upcoming directors, twin brothers who wanted to make films and started making films when they were 12 and that was 20 years ago.

“They now have American representation, they have managers and agents and they have a very bright future ahead of them. Again those guys knew it was really important for me to do this screening and they are coming down to attend the screening and the Q&A. Everyone is really excited to do it,” he added.

Ahead of the evening film screening, Brian will lead a workshop on the afternoon of October 2 with Moving Image Arts students from schools across Enniskillen at the South West College.

“I’m really keen to meet all the up and coming film students in Fermanagh and answer some questions for them. I think it will be helpful for them to chat to someone like me who’s had a slight bit of success in the industry,” shared Brian.

“I know for a fact that some of these people will be people I will be dying to work with in five or 10 years time and I kind of really want to meet them now,” he added.

Not long back from attending TIFF with Ordinary Love, which stars Lesley Manville and Liam Neeson, Brian explained how his role as a producer on the film came about: “In 2015 David Holmes, my producing partner on the project, came to me and asked if I would produce the film and bring it from development into production. I knew of Owen McCafferty the writer, he was one of Ireland’s greatest living playwrights and I knew of the stuff he had done already so the fact that this was his debut feature script was just hugely exciting so I really jumped at the chance.”

He continued: “It started with myself and Owen, Lisa Barros D’Sa and Glenn Leyburn the directors, and David Holmes. We had a very strong team from the start and once we had the draft of the script that we shared with Liam Neeson, once he came on board then everything changed so it’s been a whirlwind from the minute Liam read the script and said he was signing up.”

Brian explained that in one sense working with Liam and Lesley is “exactly the same” as working with any actors but on the other hand is “entirely different”. Noting that they are both “incredible” actors, Brian said that witnessing them on set was “amazing” for him and everybody involved.

Aside from Brian’s producing, Ordinary Love has another subtle link to Fermanagh. Brian explained that his sister Claire Falconer’s artworks feature throughout the film set. Calling Claire an “incredible artist”, Brian added: “A good bit of the art in the house in the film is actually Claire’s. It’s either art that she had done previously or we actually commissioned a number of pieces for the film.”

Attending the ‘Ordinary Love’ premiere at TIFF, Brian commented that the festival is a great “launch pad” for films: “I was at TIFF last year with ‘The Dig’. My film ‘Boogaloo and Graham’ went to Toronto and from Toronto it went on to do all the brilliant things it did. Last year ‘The Dig’ premiered there and it was the start of everything for it.”

He continued: “But this year going back with ‘Ordinary Love’, it’s a much bigger film in a much bigger section. There was a lot more press around it. People were aware of the film in a way that they may not have been aware of ‘The Dig’ last year.”

Noting how ‘Ordinary Love’ was considered as one of the top 20 films at the festival, which has over 300 films every year, Brian added: “It was amazing, we had two screenings and they both sold out, the response from the audience was incredible. The Hollywood Reporter and Screen Daily, two of the trade magazines, they gave us reviews, and they were literally the best reviews I’ve ever read.”

“That will really help us when we go to release the film, it’s going to be in cinema’s on December 6 in the UK and Ireland,” he concluded.