Intimate drama by award winning writer Alan getting numerous accolades

JUNGLE’ is an intimate drama by award-winning Clondalkin writer and director Alan Hopkins set against the backdrop of the refugee crisis in Europe.

Chris is a closeted long-haul truck driver making his way across France. One night just outside Calais, he discovers a young Libyan refugee, Bouba, hiding in his truck.

An altercation leads to blackmail. Bouba needs Chris to take him to Calais. Using the fear of his secret being revealed, he forces him to comply.

This short film is produced by recently established company Hal Pictures, which Alan co-founded with his producing partner Husni Hafid, the mastermind behind the Irish-language short film ‘Ogham’.

‘Jungle’, which was first released in 2022, has been met with numerous accolades, including a special mention at the Out of Bounds Film Festival in Molfetta in 2023.

It was also nominated for “Best Irish Short” at the Indie Cork Awards and made the official selection for the Roze Filmdagen in Amsterdam.

The Echo met with Alan this week to talk about ‘Jungle’, which will air on RTE 1 at 11:40 pm on September 1 before going to RTEPlayer.

It has been a full year since our last interview about ‘Ogham,’ has it been a busy year for Hal Pictures?

Yes, it’s flown by. When we last spoke, ‘Ogham’ was about to premiere at the Galway Film Fleadh. Since then, it’s been screened at festivals worldwide, picked up awards, and given me the chance to travel with the film.

We’ve also received funding for a new project and are now preparing for ‘Jungle’s’ TV premiere on RTE.

What inspired ‘Jungle’?

‘Jungle’ grew from the helplessness I felt watching people die crossing the English Channel and Mediterranean in search of a better life.

When I find a topic I care about, that’s what draws me in as a filmmaker, and the ongoing refugee crisis in Europe and the growing polarisation of people against those with the least power in our society is a story worth telling.

However, taking on a topic of such scale without financial backing or resources, I felt, could lead to making a film that failed to do justice to the topic.

That’s why I decided to write an intimate story that is almost adjacent to the realities of the camp they called the “Jungle”.

I felt if I focused on one person’s journey, hoping that through that microcosm, I could speak to the wider truth of the events surrounding it and humanise the topic on a personal scale.

Were there any pressures or struggles involved in production? If that is the case, how did you manage to cope with it?

We shot the film in Kent, UK, which doubled for Calais, during COVID. Like any independent film, we faced time and financial pressures, made more intense by travel restrictions and the risk of being shut down at any moment.

We actually encountered the wrath of a Tory councillor who tried to block our filming permit and shut us down on the final day of shooting.

He didn’t want a film about refugees being filmed in Kent. Luckily we were tipped off in advance by a supportive council employee.

The way we overcame these challenges was sheer passion, for the story, for the craft, and for getting it right, and a good egg on the inside of the Kent council.

Were there differences in production between ‘Ogham’ and ‘Jungle’?

Outwardly, the films are very different; ‘Ogham’ is a period piece set during the famine, while ‘Jungle’ is a modern story set near the Calais refugee camps.

But the production challenges were similar: both involved multiple exterior locations and complex logistics.

The main difference was crew size; with ‘Ogham’, Screen Ireland support allowed for a full crew, which eased some pressure. On ‘Jungle’, as an independent production, we often took on multiple roles each out of necessity.

It’s easy to fail when no one is watching, and the biggest difference from ‘Jungle’ to ‘Ogham’ was that we actually had a deliverable and a deadline, and we wanted to deliver the best film possible to Screen Ireland so we might work again in this town. (They loved it.)

What processes were involved in casting Paul McQuaid, Arian Nik, and Ewens Abid?

I had worked with Paul McQuaid previously; he had a small part in an earlier film I directed, and we had such a good experience that we had been looking for another project to work on together, we’ve actually done three films together now with ‘Jungle’ and ‘Ogham’.

Arian Nik and Ewens Abid reached out to us directly from our casting notice and understood the importance of the story we were trying to tell, so they invested themselves heavily in the project from the outset.

Arian was just an amazing performer, and his casting tape blew us away. We saw so many actors for that role, and with Arian, we knew immediately that he was the one.

Ewens, similarly, from the moment we spoke with him, his enthusiasm for the work was so infectious that I just really wanted to work with him, and I only wish I had a bigger role for him, but he’s in Andor on Disney+ now, so I think he’s doing ok.

What is next for you? Are there any other projects or films planned?

We’re in pre-production now on our next film, ‘A Knock at Your Door’, another Screen Ireland-supported project, filming in January 2026, so that is our main focus.

We are always developing new projects, however, and the aim is to be talking about our first feature film the next time you hear from us.

Who would you like to thank for helping with ‘Jungle’?

You can’t make an independent film without a lot of help from everyone you know, but we really have to thank the support of our families and loved ones and the whole cast and crew.

It really was a labour of love from all involved. Also the support of the refugee community, whose support was invaluable and who this film really is a tribute to.

Finally, though, I have to thank my late Aunt, Pam Kelly; she was always so supportive of me as a filmmaker.

There were many points in the making of this film where we could have faltered, but it was the desire to make her proud and give her the film we knew she would have loved that got us over the line, she powered us through the toughest moments, and I hope she is proud of what we achieved.