Dub Daze makes its Irish debut

Dub Daze, a new Irish feature film that was written, directed and produced by Irish filmmaker Shane Collins, is a collection of coming of age stories based in Dublin.

The film follows three different stories set in the north, south and inner city and provides a window for the audience to watch the characters navigate new worlds and come to terms with the harsh realities of life that we must face eventually.

Songwriter Fi tries to break into the cut-throat music scene. Students Dan and Baz try to find some fun on their last day of school. And medical students Jack and Sean attempt to understand the world of Dublin’s affluent youth.

This low budget film is charming and funny and is impossible to watch without finding yourself thinking how relatable it is.

There is a massive cast of 47 actors in Dub Daze, many of which are from areas in Dublin including the Liberties. Clide Delaney who plays drug dealer ‘Petal’ is from Tyrone road in Inchicore and Graeme Coughlan who plays the know it all taxi driver Ger, is from Cabra.

Coughlan’s family roots in the area go all the way back to his grandparents who owned a clothes shop in the Phibsborough shopping centre. Having lived there all his life, Coughlan finds that there is a great sense of community there, “There has always been a great sense of community in the area, and I think that pattern is quite common throughout the Liberties.”

Clide Delaney would agree to a certain extent and says that “there were some real characters around the area”, however there was a lot of problems with drugs and crime at the time Delaney was growing up and as a result he would spend a lot of time around Thomas St. where his mother’s side of the family comes from.

These drug and crime problems are the reason Delaney ended up in acting. His parents put him into acting classes to keep him off the streets and he ended up sticking at it, training in many different schools until his twenties, “ I was accepted to the prestigious full time course at the Gaiety school of acting in 2008 where the likes of Colin Farrell and Aidan Turner studied among others.”

In contrast to this, Coughlan found acting by chance. An electrician by trade, he discovered acting and “was instantly hooked”.

“It’s helped me a lot and has helped give me a different perspective on life” says Coughlan.

Both actors have worked hard to get to this point. Delaney co-founded Amigo’s theatre and is now living in London while Coughlan wrote and produced his own short last year.

Although they have had different experiences, both agree that where they’re from and the experiences they had whilst growing up in the Liberties has definitely influenced their work.

“I believe that everything you do in life has influence on you” Coughlan says. “From the places you live to the day to day interactions we have with different people.”

As for Delaney who plays bad guy ‘Petal’ in the film he feels growing up in an area that was long associated with crime and drugs definitely gave him an insight into how to play a certain role.

“In the past 6 years as I have noticed I’m cast as the antagonist or villain in most things. Looking back at some of those types of characters in the areas of Inchicore and Ballyfermot and understanding [them] and their motivations is so important and having seen, talked and lived among them I’m able to layer these characters with more than just an aggressive attitude and mean look on my face.”

Dub Daze premiered at the Virgin Dubin International Film Festival on Saturday the 23rd of February at 2pm followed by a Q&A with Collins and some of the actors. Collins said, “It’s amazing to be here and to showcase this in our home city.”