Tullamore man's film wins award at New Jersey Film Festival

Tullamore native Sean Breathnach's short film 'Don't Open The Box' recently won an impressive four awards at the New Jersey Film Festival.

The film took home the accolades for Best Horror Short, Best Actor, Best Sound Design and Best Visual Effects. It also won Best Short Film at the After Life Film Festival and received the Best Director award at the Inside Film Festival.

Reacting to the immense success of 'Don't Open The Box', Sean said: “It's been a bit of a whirlwind really, you never know how your films are going to be received. I completed 'Don't Open The Box' in March of this year and I sent it out to several film festivals.

“Then you're in the waiting game, waiting to see if the film will be screened, waiting to see how it's received, hoping people will like it. With this film the reaction has been incredible. I'm over the moon that people have enjoyed the film and have seen fit to honour us with these awards.”

The film centres around a father who's alone at home with his child one night when a mysterious box arrives on his doorstep. Which he was better off ignoring.

Sean stated: “I wrote the script at home in Tullamore and then I talked to Offaly Arts who kindly helped to support the production. I talked with John (Ryan Howard) about playing the lead role and thankfully he was very enthusiastic. I bought a very average looking box and asked my friend Lisa Zagone if she could work on the box to make it look like something that came from hell.”

The story was influenced by The Outer Limits "Don't Open Till Doomsday" and the "Button, Button" episode of the Twilight Zone. The Tullamore man explained: “I've put my own horror twist on it and added a sort of Lynchian feel to it. I'm always writing short horror ideas but I was very enthusiastic about making this one. The box idea is an enduring human tale going all the way back to Pandora's Box. For some reason we're fascinated by it.”

Sean's daughter Zoe also appears in the film and he added that Zoe and her sister Saoirse are very keen to be in his films.

Sean recently released another short horror film, "Night Caller", which stars Sorcha Fahy from Tullamore. Sean said that he is also speaking with producers about a new feature film about a couple living in a haunted house.

Sean also has a YouTube channel where he uploads his short horror films which can be found at IrishHorror.com. He continued: “The channel is doing great at the moment with nearly 700,000 views. I'm planning to upload a new short film there every few months.

“I've also got a TV series in development with producers here and in the UK - it's a long process but there's plenty to keep me busy in the meantime. I've also plans for a horror feature film set in Tullamore. Ideally I'd love to be making short films and feature films on a regular basis, that's the dream,” concluded Sean.