WITH Kenneth Brannagh to his left and Johnny Knoxville to his right, Gerard Lough has every right to be proud.

Friday night saw the Letterkenny filmmaker’s new feature film ‘Spears’ make its big screen debut – A full four years on from the cameras first rolled.

“It is nothing short of a miracle given what we have been through in the last few years,” said Gerard ahead of Friday night’s premiere at Century Cinemas in Letterkenny and Lifford’s Eclipse Cinema.

“I was told by many people to forget about the cinema or that the cinema was dead or dying. But that has not come to pass and through passion and tenacity our time has come.

“Here it is and I’m delighted to be able to show it to an audience on the big screen.”

A fast-paced thriller filmed across Italy, Berlin, London and Donegal, Spears is a very different follow-up to Night People, Gerard Lough’s dark and sinister 2015 offering.

“When you make a film the last thing you want is to do the same, you want to jump to a new genre. I set out with that as my intentional goal, to do something different. I also wanted to travel more so I came up with the story for Spears which allowed me to combine those two goals.”

When the plotline was penned in 2018 no one could have imagined what was coming down the line – A real life horror story of a global pandemic that would change humanity.

Gerard Lough admits that there were “dark days” when it seemed extremely unlikely that Spears would ever see the light of day in a cinema.

But driven by an old school attitude and a love of the big screen he refused to conform to the movie industry of today’s expectations.

“The pressure from the industry was to go straight to On Demand. Maybe it’s old fashioned but my heart is still very much in the cinema. I missed it during the peak of lockdown, as you do when things you love are taken away.

“It is something I’m really glad to see back again because there is nothing like a live audience.”

Spears, in many ways, is a love note to Donegal, something the county’s and Ireland’s tourism bodies will hopefully pick up on. Many of the cast are from Donegal while the film showcases locations such as Sliabh Liag, Maghery Waterfall and Beltany Stone Circle.

“I hope it sends out a signal about what a great place Donegal is to make a movie. You have such a variety of locations here, take Sliabh Liag for example, it’s absolutely magical.”

With some advice for anyone considering becoming a filmmaker, Gerard said it boils down to work ethic and commitment.

“It was always what I wanted to do. I left school at 18 and at that time it was much harder to make films. It’s easier now in the sense that camera equipment is much cheaper and much better quality. All you need is a decent camera and some good quality sound equipment and away you go.

“My advice would be start slow with short films and music videos. You can’t run until you can walk so get experience of telling a story and find your voice from there. After you’ve done that maybe start thinking about a feature film . Don’t go into it lightly because it is a big undertaking and a long journey. Be prepared for the ups and downs.

“Come and see Spears and afterwards if you are thinking ‘well if he can do it, so can I’ then that is the right attitude. Persistence is the only thing that will get it done, it’s just how hard you are prepared to work. It’s like that old question, how do you eat a whale? One bite at a time.”

On screen Spears is a twisting and turning tale of obsession and revenge. Behind the cameras and the story is one of adversity and of a director and his cast’s unwavering faith in what they were creating.

“It’s a strange day,” said Gerard outside a snowy Century Cinema as Spears prepared to air publicly for the first time on Friday.

“People have asked me what my next film will be and, to use an old Irish expression, I haven’t a bull’s notion at this stage. This passion project has been going on for a long time and here today, my job is over. Now it’s up to the people to decide, I’ve no control over that just as I’ve no control over the reviews.

“I have to be at peace with that but what I do know is that myself and the cast are very proud of it.”

Spears runs every night this week until Thursday at Century Cinemas, Letterkenny, and Eclipse in Lifford. It will be shown in Buncrana cinema in April before moving to On Demand.