The International Premiere of Irish director Eamonn Murphy’s film, A Better You, will take place as part of the Tribeca Film Festival in Manhattan, New York on April 17th.
The film is among just 64 selections out of over 6100 submissions. Actors Seán T. Ó’Meallaigh (Vikings, An Klondike) and Hannah Mamalis (The Drummer & The Keeper) star in the fantasy drama, which is produced by Quintin Ahern of Army of Id.
A Better You tells the story Douglas (Ó’Meallaigh) a shy, introverted man looking for love in a dystopian steampunk world. After winning tickets to the city’s Dance Extravaganza, Douglas invests in “a better you,” a carbon clone of himself with artificial personality customization to help him win the girl of his dreams, Olga (Mamalis).
Speaking with IFTN, director Eamonn Murphy explains the origins of the film: “There are a lot of elements explored in this film. However the most prominent in this film is duality. The idea of duality is synonymous with the human condition.”
“We are always grappling with the idea of who we are and who we want to be,” continued Murphy. “The birth of social media and dating apps has given us a platform to portray an idealized version of ourselves to the rest of the world. I think a knock-on effect of this is a polarization of the human psyche. We get caught up with portraying an idealized version of ourselves without actually confronting who we are.”
“I wanted to make a film that encouraged people to accept themselves for who they are and disregard the notion that they need to be somebody else in order to be accepted by someone. It is our flaws that make us human and it’s our flaws that make us unique. I hope people walk away from the film with that in mind.”
A Better You was shot in 5 days around Dublin City in locations such as The National Library of Ireland, Fernhill House & Gardens, Dublin Bus Broadstone and Blackrock Park with a modest budget of €50,000 funded by Screen Ireland.
Producer Quintin Ahern explains the challenges of creating a steampunk world in Dublin City: “One of the main challenges of this film was making our locations look like they were part of a fantasy steampunk world and not Dublin City. The easiest ways of achieving this was by filming in protected locations such as Fernhill House and The National Library of Ireland.”
“These locations added a certain charm to the film and helped alleviate the financial cost of building sets from scratch. Dun Laoghaire County Council and Screen Ireland were extremely helpful in securing these locations. This meant that we could spend our money on custom-made costumes, props and special effects that helped create a steampunk world for our story to unfold.”
A Better You will receive its International Premiere as part of the Tribeca Film Festival on April 17th.
Tickets will go on sale on March 17th at 11am ET.
Click here for more information about Tribeca Film Festival.
