By Ruth Douds
An ambitious young actor and film-maker from Saintfield is hopeful that his latest project will bring him to the attention of backers who can help him fulfil his big screen dreams.
Michael James, who has recently graduated from film school at Liverpool John Moores University, is part of a production team called Night Mail Productions who have just released their third short film.
The 15 minute short, entitled Roundabout, stars Michael alongside three other Liverpool based actors.
Lyud Hristov and Lucy Mynard portray newly single 20-somethings David and Stella as they navigate their way around their personal and professional lives.
Explains Michael: “As the film opens up, it’s the morning after a night spent together, but it’s revealed they don’t remember anything.
“David then meets his friend Michael, an actor, who is portrayed by me and Stella meets her friend Marnie (Aisha Hemissi-Liu) who’s a film-maker and she makes a film about this event with my character.
“The characters David and Stella are unaware a film is going to be made about them.”
Michael has submitted Roundabout to over 130 film festivals across the world and is hoping that it will come to the attention of someone in the industry with the financial clout to fund further productions.
“Each short film that we have made under Night Mail Productions has been bigger than the last, with better production values.
“We are hoping to keep on with this as the end goal is to make films and I think we are really taking a step in the right direction,” he explains.
The nucleus of Night Mail Productions is Michael, director Patrick Sheard and Bill Thompson behind the camera.
Together they released the short films The Unchanging Sea in 2022 and Streetlands in 2023.
Roundabout went into pre-production in October 2023 and the team then spent three months coming up with the concept and the script.
“When it came to January we started casting and the director asked me if I’d like to be in it and I was delighted to do so,” says Michael, adding: “We started shooting in February and we wrapped around the end of June.”
Roundabout was shot on a budget of just £500 which, says Michael, taught them to be innovative and financially cautious.
Once the film’s festival run has been exhausted Michael intends to bring it to a wider audience through the internet.
“We’ll release it publicly online through YouTube and promote it on our own social media channels,” he says.
Michael plans to spend another year in Liverpool building up his creative network and says he is ‘really excited’ for the future.
A trailer for Roundabout can be viewed on YouTube at https://youtu.be/TyvvUEsDweY?si=VewURAoNBkFVT6ev
