24/02/2015 - Award winning film examines suicide clusters in local Irish communities

Wildcard Distribution has acquired the rights for writer/director Frank Berry’s I Used To Live Here [+see also:
trailer
film profile] and will release the film in Irish cinemas on April 3, Good Friday. The film won the Best First Feature Audience Award at last year’s Galway Film Fleadh. The film follows Amy Keane, a 13-year-old trying to cope with the death of her mother and the reappearance of her father's ex-girlfriend, who experiences the temptation of suicide after witnessing the outpouring of love for a local suicide victim. The cast is mostly non-professional and includes Jordanne Jones, Dafhyd Flynn, James Kelly and Ross Geraghty.  

Frank Berry said, “It is a pleasure to work with Wildcard Distribution who have shown great enthusiasm and passion for our film. I Used to Live Here explores the urgent issue of suicide clusters among teenagers, and features a cast of mostly local people from the community of Killinarden in Tallaght. I’m delighted that their commitment and their remarkable talent will soon be up on the big screen for everyone to see.”

The film was researched with the assistance of Headstrong, the National Centre for Youth Mental Health. Dr. Tony Bates, CEO and Founding Director of Headstrong, said, “What Frank and the community of Killinarden have achieved is remarkable both from the point of view of filmmaking and from the point of view of deepening our collective understanding of why so many young people turn to suicide. We see how easy it is for any of us to lose our way. And, more importantly, what it takes to find our way back.”

Frank Berry and Donna Eperon produced for Write Direction Films.