DRAMA…Stuart Graham in the lead role of Volkswagen Joe
A HALF HOUR TV drama set in Fermanagh has just completed filming and has been given its first screening.
The film has been made by Enniskillen born Kevin McCann based on a play by his father, award winning playwright Brendan McCann.
The drama is set against the political backdrop of the hunger strikes in the early 1980s and is set in a small border town in county Fermanagh.
The drama is produced by Belturbet Drama Society, Technowolfe Films and Maccana Teoranta and was adapted for the screen by Matthew Roche and directed by Brian Deane.
‘Volkswagen Joe’ as he is known, is a dedicated, hardworking car mechanic for the local vintage club whose members come from both sides of a divided community.
Unfortunately for Joe, both sides view his ‘even-handedness’ with suspicion. Joe is restoring a vintage Volkswagen Kharmann Ghia for his neighbour, the local RUC Inspector, Sam Johnson.
One day, the local trouble maker introduces Joe to a journalist who wants to interview him for a vintage car magazine.
It soon becomes apparent that this is no journalist, but a republican activist with orders to plant a bomb in the Inspector’s car.
Given their similar backgrounds, this man does not understand Joe’s objection to the deadly deed nor anticipate Joe’s decision about how to resolve it.
Producer Kevin McCann, who was born in Enniskillen then moved to Cavan before settling in Belfast said, “This is the first time that the European PEACE programme has ever funded a film production. The film has come together from the collaborative work done over the past few years by the production partners and the PEACE III representatives
“I would like to commend all the production crew especially Matt Roche for adapting the screenplay based on my father’s play,
“The cast were superb and a special thank you to our lead actor Stuart Graham, for his compelling central performance.
“Together with the local communities of Cavan, Leitrim and Fermanagh, we have produced an authentic half-hour drama that bears testament to the terrain and time of the troubles – we can all be proud”
The cast include Stuart Graham (Hunger, The Fall), Janet Moran (Love Hate/Breakfast on Pluto), and Paddy Rocks (A Belfast Story, Game of Thrones).
Volkswagen Joe had its first screening in the Peace III marquee in Cavan last week with subsequent screenings to take place along the border in the coming weeks and months.