THE WAKE/TO DIE LAUGHING

Oi! Da magic of cinema. It can trick you something awful. Like in dis short film, into tinking dat da living is dead. Even dat da south of Spain is dear old Dublin itself.

***************

The magician behind this particular feat is Bob Wilkins, originally from Bristol, sometimes at the BBC, and now operating as a producer/ director between the UK, US and, yes, Spain.

As well as conventional work as a freelance assistant director on a slew of projects over the years, he has been refining his knack for shorts, having directed five, and now The Wake.

Goodness, he not only directed The Wake, he built the coffin (above) that forms the centrepiece of the action. Or, to be more accurate, in this case, the centrepiece for the inaction.

The synopsis: Two Irish lads (above) are a bit under the weather from drink and banned from their local so they hatch a cunning plot to con their mates into giving them free booze.

Simple enough. What gives it a bit of extra flavour is that this quintessentially Irish film was actually shot, over just two days, in Fuengirola, in southern Spain, using an Irish bar there.

And the cast and extras were all culled, for free, from the local Irish community.

What would ever induce such folk to give up their day on the beach to sweat it out under the lights?

Wilkins admits that the majority of his budget "was totally absorbed by refreshments both during and after the shoot!"

The Wake is one of the entries in the monthly competitions for short filmmakers run by www.Icewhole.com, a free networking site for creatives launched in November 2007.

Click this Icewhole link to see the whole catalogue of Icewhole films.

To see The Wake, click here.

For further examples of Wilkins's work, check out his site www.fivepeakpictures.com..

Posted July 21, 2008.