A new short folk-horror film based on a north Antrim legend has been screened at a US film festival.
The Witch of Glentow, by director Tristan Crowe, debuted on Saturday at the Standing Rock Film Festival in Ohio.
The film features Ulster-Scots dialect, and comes on the heels of the Belfast-based director’s previous film, Oot Here Mae Lane, which won the People’s Choice Prize at the same festival last year.
His new short, produced by his company Negative Waves, is described as a “dark and surreal cinematic journey that explores unsettling events surrounding a small North Antrim village after the arrival of a mysterious visitor”.
It is based on the story of a ‘witch’ in Glentow, near Ballycastle, which local folklore says was a woman murdered after being blamed for bringing supernatural misfortune on locals.
The story was popularised in the poem, The Witch of Glentow, is by Glens of Antrim poet, James Stoddard Moore, who died in 1903.
The short film features Hope Street star Clíodhna McCorley and The Fall’s Richard Clements among others, with an original score by Northern Ireland Music Prize winner Mark McCambridge.
Ulster Scots poet Charlie Gillen features in the short as a storyteller recounting the original poem to a group of local children, before strange events begin to plague the area.
The director explained: “The aim was to create a short film that whilst staying true to the Ulster-Scots language and roots of the area, could experiment visually in a way that would be cinematically interesting.
“We’re also very pleased to be able to take Ulster-Scots to an international audience, and having last year’s film do so well at the festival proves that there’s an appetite beyond Northern Ireland.”
The Ulster-Scots Broadcast Fund’s Heidi McAlpin added of the director: “His vision, brought to life by a rich combination of professional and amateur actors, has ensured this story will spook a new generation of horror fans.”
The Witch of Glentow is set for official release in the spring, with an anticipated festival run later in the year.
