Principal photography will begin next week on newcomer Lynne Davison’s Northern Irish crime thriller Mandrake, the latest project backed by Northern Ireland Screen through its New Talent Focus scheme.
Produced by Village Films, Mandrake is about a probation officer, played by Deidre Mullins, tasked with rehabilitating a notorious killer ‘Bloody’ Mary Laidlaw back into society following a two-decade sentence. Derbhle Crotty co-stars with Paul Kennedy. Seamus O’Hara, Nigel O’Neill and Ian Beattie.
Northern Ireland Screen’s New Talent Focus scheme aims to deliver one debut feature by a Northern Ireland resident creative team of writer, director and producer each year. DIrector Lynne Davison
First-time director Davison has been mentored through Women in Film and TV UK by Suffragette and Rocks director Sarah Gavron. The screenplay is written by Matt Harvey.
Marie-Thérèse Mackle and Paul Kennedy are producing. Mackle’s most recent credits include BBC Three’s My Left Nut as line producer, Starz/BBC/RTE’s Dublin Murders as production manager, and Amazon and Channel 4’s Frank OOf Ireland as line producer. Kennedy co-founded Village Films in 2013 and produced and directed the company’s debut feature Made In Belfast.
Mandrake is financed by Northern Ireland Screen and post-production house Yellowmoon. It will film entirely on location in Northern Ireland for three weeks.
Previous films to have come through the New Talent Focus scheme include Black Medicine from 2020 Screen Star of Tomorrow Colum Eastwood, Shelly Love’s A Bump Along the Way, Ryan and Andrew Tohill’s The Dig, Chris Baugh and Brendan Mullin’s Bad Day for the Cut and Aislinn Clarke’s The Devil’s Doorway.
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