Poignant short film Clodagh shows ‘how art can change people’, says director Portia A Buckley

A moving short film currently longlisted for the Academy Awards depicts a test of faith and morals set in a rural Irish village.

Clodagh, co-written and directed by Portia A Buckley with her husband and creative partner Michael Lindley, tells the story of Mrs Kelly (Bríd Ní Neachtain), a woman working for the church who also teaches Irish dance to local girls.

One morning she is approached by a single father (Aidan O’Hare), who asks her to take on his daughter, Clodagh (Katelyn Rose Downey), who turns out to be an extraordinary dancer. But a revelation puts Mrs Kelly’s beliefs to the test, as she is forced to choose between what she has been taught is right, and what she feels in her heart.

Buckley said she and Lindley were inspired to write the story shortly after the birth of their son, after becoming fascinated by the idea of a housekeeper dedicated to her church while “asking for nothing in return – you don’t come across characters like that very often,” she told The Independent.

She added that, in hindsight, she and Lindley realised that they had made a film about a child who “turns someone’s life upside down for the better”, which they themselves were experiencing at the time.

One of the most powerful aspects of the film, she said, was to show how “art can change people, and witnessing people who have never changed their lives to be profoundly affected by seeing a form of artistic expression”.

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“That was the one of the most powerful things to me, I think, because I love seeing those characters where you know that they’ve spent their entire life living how they think you’re supposed to live, doing everything by the book,” she said.

“And then to watch [Mrs Kelly] go through this crisis of conscience was really moving.”

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Buckley said Neachtain was “brilliantly matched” by the 14-year-old Downey, a two time world champion in Irish dancing. She has been thrilled by the reactions to the project, which is longlisted in the short film categories for both the Oscars and the Baftas.

“We had zero expectations when we set out to make this film,” she explained. “So to see the reactions to it around the world – to a story set in rural Ireland – is a lovely, welcome surprise.”

The Bafta nominations are announced on Wednesday 15 January, while the Academy Awards nominees will be revealed on Sunday (19 January), following a deadline extension due to the California wildfires.

Clodagh is out now.