A LEGACY OF HORSES
DOC. 16 MIN / SWEDEN (2020)
Back in 1996, 16-year-old John was proudly riding bareback on his horse. The atmospheric archive shots show him galloping among the dreary apartment blocks of Ballymun, the working-class neighborhood in Dublin where this restless kid grew up, got his first horse, and was expelled from school. For John and many of his neighbors, riding was a welcome escape from the tough reality of Ballymun, not an expensive hobby. Now, 20 years later, John has a teenage son of his own. He inherited his passion for horses from his father, and now he’s passing on that passion—along with his own knowledge and experience—to his beaming, shy boy Daragh. In observational scenes that shift back and forth in time, the story unfolds of fathers and sons, men and horses, love and devotion. In voice-over John talks about his past and present, and how Daragh is following in his footsteps. Things are getting tougher for horse lovers in Ballymun, he says, but they can’t imagine a life without them.
A Legacy of Horses trailer
AWARDS
The Guldbagge Award
PROD INFO
Screenplay: Annika Karlsson, Jessica Karlsson
Director: Annika Karlsson, Jessica Karlsson
Editor: Annika Karlsson, Jessica Karlsson
DOP: Kate McCullough
Additional Cinematographer: Sara Svärdsén
Production: Hey sister Film/ Systerskaparna AB
Colorist: Nils Fridén (Velourfilm)
Sound designer: Torsten Rundqvist
Sound recording: Annika Karlsson, Jessica Karlsson
Music Composer: Joakim Wall and Staffan Westfält
Audio Sync: Micael Henriquez
Artistic advice: Lisa Partby and Anna Byvald
Translation: Annie Marichal
Archive Footage: Ipso Facto Films / Channel 4 / Screenocean
Financial support:
The Swedish Film Institute: Erika Wasserman
Filmbasen: Ann-Marie Söhrman Fermelin
The Swedish Arts Grants Committee
Music:
Joakim Wall och Staffan Westfält
Hammock
Tired Tape Machine
FESTIVALS
IDFA, Amsterdam
Les Nuits en Or by the Académie des César, Paris, Madrid, Athens, Rome, Lago, Ventotene, Vienna and more.
Stockholm International Film Festival, Stockholm
IFEMA FILMFESTIVAL, Malmö, Sweden
International Kurzfilmwoche Regensburg, Regensburg
In Cinemas: Folkets Bio c/o Svensk Kortfilm
Verín Int’l Short Film Festival, Verín
Tempo Dokumentärfestival, Stockholm
Dublin International Film Festival (DIFF), Dublin
A Legacy of Horses Poster