‘Wonderful achievement’ for Anne (70) starring in movie

A CLONDALKIN woman is starring in a movie that recently premiered at Virgin Media Dublin International Film Festival at the Lighthouse Cinema.

Anne McCusker (70) is one of the stars of the film ‘Waiting’, which was written and directed by Paul Farren and is part of a collaboration between the festival and the Digital Hub of Screen 8 – a community driven film-making programme for the people of Dublin 8, which Anne attends.

Anne is a member of An Cosán’s U3A group, and has taken courses in Women and Wellness, Health, Wellbeing for Life, and a computing course.

The film was filmed between November 2021 and January 2022 and shows the interaction between people in a doctor’s waiting room who are all waiting for different reasons.

Speaking about how her involvement in the film came about, Anne told The Echo: “I do a computer class down in the Digital Hub on James’ Street every Tuesday morning, which is taught by a woman named Sonia from An Cosán in Jobstown.

“Before Covid hit, a man came into the centre one day and asked us if we would like to do a movie – then Covid happened, and we didn’t see him again for two years.”

Last November Anne, along with three other members of the class, still had an interest in participating in the movie and soon began rehearsing and coming up with ideas with the director.

Talking about the filming process, Anne said that she and the other three members “just went for it”.

“We sort of said – what else are we doing?,” Anne joked. “We hadn’t been out or together in a long time and everything we did was on Zoom.

“We met every Monday and Paul Farren came up with the script and the characters were formed and it just kicked off from there. We learned our lines, practiced a bit for two weeks and then we started to shoot.”

Screen 8, the film-making project that produced the movie, has usually worked with schoolchildren but this year decided to involve people over 60’s in the community.

“It was a great chance for us and a wonderful achievement,” said Anne. “Anybody that wasn’t on screen was helping shoot it and was able to learn how to use the equipment, so everybody was involved.”

The movie premiered at The Lighthouse Cinema on Friday, February 25, which Anne and her daughter Jennifer attended.

“It was a great experience – we all met up and there were photographs taken and we had a great time,” said Anne.

“I didn’t think it was going to be the big deal that it was – it was only when we were told that we would be going to the premiere I thought it was very funny. I just assumed it was going to be a local thing.

“Someone asked me the other day did I know I was an actress and I said – ‘Jesus, that’s the first I’ve heard’.”