STACEY Gregg's debut feature Here Before premiered at the South By South-West Festival in Texas earlier this year before going on to win Best Irish Film at the Galway Film Festival.
However, the east-Belfast born writer/director still hasn't been able to experience how a real live audience reacts to the twists and turns of this atmospheric, supernaturally-tinged psychological drama.
Happily, that's all set to change tonight when Here Before screens at Odeon Belfast as part of the Belfast Film Festival.
"I went to my first in-person screenings at the London Film Festival a couple of weeks ago and it was just totally glorious and joyous," enthuses Gregg of how she's enjoyed getting back to the cinema as Covid restrictions have eased.
"So I'm definitely excited about seeing films at the Belfast Film Festival, but also obviously people seeing Here Before with me for the first time in particular."
Shot in Belfast during December 2019, Here Before is a memorably spooky affair centred on Laura (Andrea Riseborough), a woman who begins to suspect that her late primary school-aged daughter Josie has been re-incarnated as Megan (Niamh Dornan), the child of her new next door neighbours Marie and Chris (Eileen O'Higgins and Martin McCann).
Megan seems to know things she couldn't possibly know about her new area and, more worryingly, Josie and Laura's family. Laura's growing obsession with this charmingly odd youngster quickly alienates her teenage son Tadhg (Lewis McAskie) and leads to doorstep shouting matches with Megan's parents. Meanwhile, Laura's husband Brendan (Jonjo O'Neill) worries that she might be spiralling into some sort of grief-related psychosis.
To reveal any more about what happens would spoil the mystery which builds up throughout the first two-thirds of Here Before prior to a climax that is likely to prove divisive.
"That sort of spooky, supernatural vibe is something I've always loved," enthuses Gregg.
"I love the idea of us living in co-existing realities, which is something I've explored in my theatre work as well. I'm slightly obsessed with there not being one 'story' or reading of events and I think this film is very much informed by that."
Having made one short film prior to Here Before, Gregg admits that she was "bricking it" when it was finally time to start shooting her feature debut. Indeed, the film was initially written with the intention that someone else would be directing – but that was before the Belfast woman got the itch to get behind the camera herself, as she explains.
"When I first had the idea for Here Before, I just sat down and wrote it very quickly," says Gregg, who is already well established as a writer for theatre and TV and also holds an MA in Documentary Film.
"For a while we were looking to attach a director, but in the meantime, I had an inkling that I wanted to direct a short film to see how that would go. Once I'd done that, I was sort of like 'well, I should probably just direct this feature film myself'.
"There was a bit of calling my own bluff, I think, but we got financed relatively fast – which is not normal and kind of incredible – so it felt quite whiplashy going from being a writer, to doing a short to directing a feature film."
Happily, the first time writer/director says that, to a certain extent, her background in theatre and strong instincts regarding the film's themes and how it should look helped prepare her for shooting Here Before.
"I think the truth is that I had more experience than I realised," Gregg tells me.
"However it was tough and totally intimidating. Like, I'm not going to lie, I was bricking it going into it because I haven't been to film school, I haven't done an awful lot.
"But, although there was a gap in my technical experience, I had faith in my vision for the film, I knew that I loved working with actors and I've always had a very strong visual sensibility. The key was just communicating clearly and prepping really well."
She adds: "I have to say that I kind of surprised myself: I love being on the ground, I love the collaboration with the actors and crew and I love the panic of time-critical crises.
"I kind of really enjoy all the elements because it just feels like such a privilege to be film-making at all, to be honest."
:: Here Before screens tonight at Odeon Belfast at 7pm. Tickets and full festival programme information at Belfastfilmfestival.org.
