Brown Bag Films latest feature Angela's Christmas Wish will air on RTÉ on Christmas Day. Writer/Director Damien O’Connor writes for RTÉ Culture about the charming animated feature
A sequel to the Emmy-nominated Angela’s Christmas, which was also broadcast on RTÉ One on Christmas Eve 2017, the 45-minute film is set in Limerick in the early 1900s, and stars Ruth Negga, Jared Harris and Caitriona Balfe.
When you release a film you never know how it will be received. You can have an inkling; you can remind yourself of what appealed and amused many months earlier when you were writing the script, but the very nature of animation, with the multiple repeat viewings required during production, means that by the time you release anything, you have seen the material hundreds of times over and any subjectivity is well and truly gone. So, when the film does make it out into the world it is always a huge joy to hear that others have responded favourably.
With Angela's Christmas that favourable response included three Emmy nominations, many lovely reviews and above all else, the dream opportunity to make a sequel. I say dream because like most filmmakers I had fallen in love with the world and the characters. No one was going to (virtually) rip down the sets and consign the characters to a hard drive, they were getting another chance to exist, another chance to entertain, another chance to tell their stories.
This time around I wanted to focus on the bond between parent and child. The lure and pull of love that separation brings - the script was written in July 2019, long before the pandemic had reached Ireland and put these themes of separation into crystal clear focus for so many - this was not intended be a timely story, more a timeless one.
I suspect a child of early 1900s Limerick misses a parent as equally as a child of 2020, they would both go to similar lengths to be reunited and this is what makes the core of the story, children miss a parent, so they go to get him home. Their innocence makes it irrelevant he may be thousands of miles away in Australia - they simply want him back, so they are going to get him.
Framing the story around this journey also allowed me explore areas of Limerick that I was unable to include in the original. Limerick is a gorgeous city and this time around I was fortunate enough to be able to include the People's Park, Pery Square and the historic Limerick dock. It was a also a delight to be able to work with original cast members again, including Ruth Negga, Janet Moran, Lucy O'Connell and Brendan Mullins and newcomers, Jared Harris, Caitriona Balfe and Moe Dunford.
As the film goes out into the world, I hope everyone can watch it safely surrounded by their loved ones. But with so many around the world this year separated by travel restrictions and health concerns, I hope we can all take something from a story that reminds us that as long as we have hope, anything is possible.
Angela’s Christmas Wish is on Christmas Day at 5.15pm on RTÉ One.
