‘Concerned’ – Short Doc: Making Space for the ‘Hero Girls’ in a Binary World
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18.07.2024
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“Even then, I was always playing these make-believe games in my head, but I was usually a girl in them.”
“Hero Girl. Do you remember that?”
“Yeah, that’s what it was.”
“You could be hours playing as Hero Girl, but I never remember thinking that there was anything gendered about it.”
“Or gender was not a part of it. It wasn’t until I got into secondary school at thirteen that I felt a weight that things were different.”
As Concerned gets ready for its premiere at GAZE International Film Festival this August, Hazel McGuire and her mother Jenny Roche chatted to us about their experience as part of the Ardán/ Galway City of Film Short Documentary Bursary 2023, with mentor Donal Haughey.
The mother and daughter team created the short documentary Concerned, a piece that ponders the gap between public ‘concern’ around gender, identity, child/parent roles and the private reality of those actually concerned; gender nonconforming people and their families.
Choosing a ‘personal documentary’ format
Jenny and Hazel had originally been toying with the idea of creating a drama together, but the idea for the short documentary came about after a conversation Jenny heard on the radio, where “concerned” parents were discussing the school curriculum and introducing the discussion of gender identity in schools. After hearing all the opinions shared by people on the subject, Jenny texted into the radio show to share her own opinion.
Jenny was then asked to come on the radio show with Hazel. But a live radio show didn’t feel like the right forum for them to speak on the subject – whereas a ‘personal documentary’ did.
When the possibility of the bursary came about, Jenny saw it as a chance for the two to express their opinions on the subject in a format that they had more control over.
“Something like this gives you the opportunity to try something out. You can start with a blank slate and really make something you want to make. There’s a safety net in having funding like this.” Jenny Roche
Hazel initially found the idea of making a documentary about herself a bit strange. The topic of gender identity is not something she is neutral on, and she wondered if that would affect the piece, without an outsider involved who would ask the questions. But realising she gets to give her perspective on the subject is important, and she was happy to be make it with her mother.
Both Hazel and Jenny want to be clear that they are not claiming to speak for anyone or for any community. They are speaking from their perspectives, and their concerns around gender identity. They are showing real people who are living this reality and their idiosyncratic lives.
“I wish you had seen it as something that I needed to be embraced, rather than something I needed to get over.”
“I wish I had been – maybe less afraid of all these imagined repercussions. I don’t think I saw what the positives could be.”
Perspective storytelling and technical learning curves
Hazel is a storyteller. She spent her childhood making home movies and mockumentaries on a video camera, and she also featured in a couple of Jenny’s short films back in the day. Jenny is a lecturer at the University of Galway Huston School of Film and worked on some documentaries several years back. But making the piece this time around was a steep learning curve.
“Technically you could make it off your own back, but then there are so many little things along the way to think of. Even something like buying memory banks to transfer things on to and having the right port for the equipment. These can all seem like little things in the grand scheme, but those tiny hiccups, when you don’t have the capacity to overcome them, can mean that perhaps the whole thing might not get made.” Hazel McGuire
For both, there was a lot of technical learning to be done. The two went down a trail of YouTube tutorials to get the gist of how to use the technology. They got there in the end, while knowing for themselves for future work, there’s more learning to do.
Because the piece is focused on just the two in conversation with each other, they were able to have fun with it, asking questions, making fun of each other, throwing stuff at the wall to see what would stick. Jenny and Hazel then combined these conversations with old footage they have with candid moments-past of them together, to show the truth of their relationship.
Being in it as well as directing and editing can mean losing perspective, so they felt the need to have that external person – Joseph Tobin – come in and find sense in the edit. They would potentially get someone else in behind the camera if they were to do it again, but despite the process being difficult at times, it is exciting for them to see the work they’ve put together.
“When it is your own child, I can understand that you don’t want them to make decisions that are going to irreversibly change their future. But also, everything they do is doing that. You can’t keep them in a bubble. You have to treat them as people – and just, you know – look after them.” Hazel McGuire
Concerned will be screened on Friday, August 2nd, at the Irish Film Institute in Dublin | Cinema 1 | 17:30 as part of the New Irish Shorts Programme – 1hr 49m + Q&A Tickets for New Irish Shorts in Dublin 2 from Ticketbooth Europe
Concerned will also be screened at BUSAN International Film Festival in South Korea in October 2024. Like Galway, Busan is one of 20+ UNESCO designated Cities of Film around the world.
The Short Documentary Bursary is part of the annual Galway City of Film programme for 2024 and is made possible by support from Galway City Council Arts Office, Galway County Council Arts Office, Screen Ireland and the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media. We’ll be announcing the new round of short doc bursary recipients in the coming weeks.
Subscribe to the Ardán monthly newsletter and follow Galway City of Film/ Ardán socials for more information and key dates.
