Paul Duane is an Irish filmmaker with a distinct directing style. His horror film "All You Need Is Death" takes us to the forgotten Irish countryside, to the world of old folk tales.

Duane's filmmaking career spans several decades. He has created
several drama series, music documentaries and short films. The latest film, self-
funded All You Need Is Death, takes us to forgotten Irish countryside villages,
populated by forbidden songs that mustn’t be recorded nor the lyrics transcribed, or an
unimaginable horror is unleashed. Fortunately for us, and unfortunately for the characters, there is someone who is still doing just that.

Christof Uisk asked some questions from Duane abut his career and the latest feature.

You’ve mentioned you discovered filmmaking whilst studying to become a painter? Do
you still find yourself drawn to painting? Are your paintings also populated by horrific
imagery?

I don't really paint or draw any more, though I sometimes draw storyboards. Though I have
accepted a challenge from a friend to design my own Tarot deck (major arcana only) and I
am theming it around Sam Peckinpah movies and characters, it's an interesting challenge!

Do you think of All You Need Is Death as a combination of your interest in
documentaries and horror? Our lead characters do, for one reason or another,
document forgotten or hidden things. Or was that just a coincidence?

All You Need Is Death definitely comes in part from the people I met making documentaries.
The song collectors are inspired by some of the stories about 78 RPM record collectors told
to me by Chris King, the protagonist of my doc While You Live, Shine (currently on Netflix
Europe). Some of the other concerns about the ethics of recording come from conversations
with the artist Bill Drummond, who I made two documentaries with, Best Before Death &
Welcome To The Dark Ages.

All You Need Is Death is a self-funded film. Was it always intended, as you
were writing the script?

All You Need Is Death is self-funded because after 34 years as a working filmmaker in
Ireland, I had been unable to get the state funding body Screen Ireland to support any of my
feature projects (I had been trying to get a horror movie made here since about 1996). In
pure desperation after yet another project was turned down, I took every penny I had in my
savings and made the movie. I don't think anyone really sets out to self-fund a movie -
unless they're rich, and I very much am not rich. It was just the only way I could get the film
made, or get any feature drama made.

Right, so given that experience now, I assume you would you recommend it to any
other filmmakers? Do you see yourself making more self-funded films?

I couldn't recommend it to anyone - it has been the most stressful and difficult year of my life,
and it has only started to improve now that the film is getting widely seen and praised by
critics and audiences. In a culture of state subsidised filmmaking that is extremely risk-
averse, it might be the only way to get anything made that feels like an actual movie, rather
than TV, or something made by a committee. I will not be self-funding any more films - All
You Need Is Death has done its job, I'm now developing three other features with XYZ Films
that will be conventionally funded.

I’m glad to hear things are looking up. Suffering for your art may be seen as noble,
but it’s really not. Were folk songs a large part of your childhood or did an interest for
them develop later on?

Ballads and folksongs are a part of most Irish people's childhood experience, I think.
Certainly growing up in rural Ireland as I did, they were everywhere, but it took me decades
to see how important and relevant they are to my life and to Irish culture generally. However
the real stimulus for the movie was the huge revival in folk ballads that are currently underway
in Ireland - groups like Lankum, the Mary Wallopers, the Deadlians, singers like Lisa O'Neill
and John Francis Flynn have re-envigorated ballads for a new generation, bringing
influences like black metal, experimental electronica and Krautrock to the music in a way I
find hugely exciting.

All You Need Is Death is unique in its setting and story. What do you think about the
horror movies that have been made in the past years. Anything that stands out in
particular?

I made All You Need Is Death partly because I wasn't seeing the kind of Irish film that I felt
needed to be made, there were a lot of Irish horror films that seemed to me closely patterned
on US templates, but nothing that felt integrally Irish. My influences in making it were from
lots of places but very few English-speaking sources - Kiyoshi Kurosawa's movies are a
huge influence, as is Andrezj Zulawski. The films I'm excited about right now all come from
other places - South America (When Evil Lurks*, Brujeria, Bacarau), France (Bertrand
Mandico's films), Eastern Europe (Radu Jude - I know he's not a horror filmmaker but he's a
genius), Korea obviously, Godzilla Minus One. Jordan Cronenberg is probably my favourite
horror director working in the English language right now.

When Evil Lurks will also be screened at HÕFF

A lot of the movies you mentioned are very local movies, focusing on the specificities
of one culture, but they’ve had great international success. Given the Irish setting of
All You Need Is Death, how has the reception been at Irish film festivals compared to
international ones?

We only played at one Irish festival. Our Irish premiere was at the Cork Film Festival, we had a
huge theatre and a sold-out audience, it was a great night. The film was in a way made for
Irish audiences, so they get all the jokes and references in a way people in other countries
really don't, so it was a terrific night, with almost all of my cast present.

Will you also be at Haapsalu for the festival?

I would love to come but I don't have the money to travel (still waiting to make my money
back from the movie!) so I can only come if the festival invites me - but if they do, I would
certainly love to be there!

And finally, for people who have are one the fence about seeing the film - what sort of
a horror experience can a festival visitor expect from All You Need Is Death?

All You Need Is Death is a slow burn of a movie, it's about atmosphere and creeping dread,
and a feeling that the universe has deeper and darker secrets than anything you could
imagine. It's an attempt to evoke cosmic horror on a low budget, and based on the reviews
so far, a lot of people like our approach. I hope the audience at Haapsalu feel like the film
follows them home and inhabits their dreams, and their nightmares.