Catherine’s life is changed the moment she discovers her husband dead, alone and motionless inside their glasshouse. What unfolds over the following days is a raw exploration of grief, financial hardship, isolating rural loneliness, and a fierce emotional awakening that challenges everything she thought she knew.
From acclaimed writer-director Dave Byrne, Sunphlowers is a new Irish drama exploring the importance of creativity and community in the face of adversity, to be premiered at next month’s 37th Galway Film Fleadh.
Starring Anne McCrudden, Patrick Bergin, and Abigail O’Regan, Sunphlowers unearths the resilience of a woman forced to rebuild her world later in life. Shot over a demanding 16-day schedule in rural Ireland, the film is steeped in emotional depth, visual poetry and colour.
Byrne spoke to me about the inspirations, challenges, and heart that went into crafting this story of loss and renewal.
An exploration of grief and resilience
Sunphlowers asks viewers to sit with Catherine in her grief. Through community and a new found inner strength, her character transforms herself and her surroundings in the face of tragedy.
In the aftermath of her husband’s death, Catherine is faced with the harsh reality of financial ruin when she learns her family farm is on the brink. Instead of giving up, Catherine sets out on a journey of self discovery. She finds a sense of community in a local art class, and creates a vibrant painting, Sunphowers. Catherine begins to face her grief head-on, navigating the complex and beautiful journey toward healing and renewal.
“I think that everybody experiences grief. It affects everybody in different ways. I like to create films that have heart in them and that you see a bit of yourself in the character. If people are moved and inspired by it, that’s all I want,” says Byrne.
Byrne reflected on his previous work with actress Anne McGruddy on his first feature film Somebody. It was that trust that brought her into Sunphlowers from the film’s earliest drafts.
“We had done Somebody together, and I really enjoyed working with her on that project. I went and said: look I’m thinking about creating another, and that I wanted to do a story about old women. I wanted to look at the subject matter of a woman of your age that’s dealing with a life-altering moment.”
Byrne recalls: “As I was writing the script I actually sat down with her and she’d say: ‘Would she say that? Would she do that?’ So it was a small collaboration with the nuances of this character with Anne.”
Though unintentional, Catherine’s rediscovery of her creativity mirrored McGruddy’s own return to acting after a long non-arts career.
“It wasn’t a conscious parallel that I wanted to create a scenario where someone is rediscovering their artistic elements later in life, but it’s something that I have seen a lot of over the years with many people,” Byrne reflects.
A field of flowers and a sea of cable ties
With a modest budget of just €420,000 and only 16 days to shoot, Bryne says the production was a true test of pressure, compromise, and teamwork.
“I think it’s important to recognize that decent films can be made for smaller money. If you have the right team of people around you, and a project that has pure heart in it, people buy into it and work over and beyond the call of duty to make it work and happen. You can get as much out of a low [budget] film as you can a bigger budget film if you’ve got heart.”
Filming in rural Ireland came with its own set of challenges. “Shooting in Ireland can be challenging at the best of times with weather, so we were working against serious rain issues and the main location of the farm was beneath a flight path as well, which affected how we re-shot things for sound.”
In one of Sunphlower’s most visually striking scenes, Catherine breaks down in a sunflower field. Remarkably, this powerful scene was almost cut from the film.
“We were kind of mapping out when they would be in full bloom, and we had everything scheduled and the production scheduled, and when it came time to actually shoot we had a couple of weeks of bad rain so none of the sunflowers had opened. So what we had to do was go buy 500 sunflowers and cable tie them to sunflower stems that hadn’t blossomed,” Bryne reveals.
The scene was shot three times, despite the film’s tight schedule. “It was an intense scene to capture, yet it only features for about 10 seconds of the film. It was a lot of effort. I needed her to let go completely. I needed her to scream out 40 years of pain and suffering and everything else that went with it.”
The importance of subtext
Though writing is Byrne’s first love, it is the space between words that he values most as a director.
“I really focus on subtext, I’m more interested in what’s not being said,” he says.
“It was in the physicality of the performance rather than the words, even though I wrote it as well. I thought the physicality and the tone was more important to me than the spoken word for that character to be their most vulnerable.”
Writing strong women and kind men
Byrne draws inspiration from strong women in his life, crafting characters who embody resilience and inner strength.
“Growing up, I was always surrounded by strong, determined women. I think that women are the stronger of the genders; more resilient. I try to portray that in the characters that I create. Even though they may be going through traumatic times, there is still a strength that should always shine through.”
Sunphlowers offers an honest, understated look at human connection and the power of friendship. The film explores the friendship between Catherine and Tony, a widower seeking Catherine’s friendship.
It was important to Bryne to show that masculinity can be rooted in empathy and care. “In terms of writing the character, I think there aren’t enough kind men portrayed in film in my view, and sometimes it’s just nice to be nice. It’s nice to portray a male character with no ulterior motive.”
Grief, colour and hope
Sunphlowers focuses on the profound healing that art and colour can bring, using them deliberately to highlight this quiet yet powerful journey.
“I felt it was important for Catherine to get back out and explore the creative side and to bring color back into her life,” Bryne remarks.
“Her painting is quieter, colourful and vibrant, and you’ll notice that in the colour grade of the film – as she’s entering that happier phase of life – there’s a brightness in the grade of the film too. Through colour is healing and that’s the subtext behind that concept.”
Sunphlowers will have its world premiere in the 37th Galway Film Fleadh on Thursday, July 10. See www.galwayfilmfleadh.com
