Missing cocaine bale inspires plot about teen scoundrels

By Kieran O’Mahony

A MISSING bale of cocaine forms the premise for a new Irish feature film, filmed in West Cork this summer. 

The Young Offenders is directed by Peter Foott and follows the fortunes of two teenage scoundrels, Conor (Chris Walley) and Jock (Alex Murphy), as they hatch a plan to escape their troubled family lives by finding a bale of cocaine that may have washed up on the West Cork coast.

Peter took inspiration for his film from the country’s biggest seizure of cocaine in Dunlough Bay in 2007, where 1.5 tonnes of the drug with an estimated street value of €107m was seized by customs and gardaí.

‘When we were coming up with the idea for the film, I was looking into the cocaine seizure and the fact that one of the bales apparently went missing. So I combined this with a West Cork adventure with the two actors on the hunt for the missing bale,’ Peter told The Southern Star.

‘All of the cast are from Cork, with authentic Cork accents, and it has a certain sense of humour. We started shooting the film at the end of April and finished at the end of August,’ he explained.

‘We shot it in and out of sunshine in places like Barleycove, Union Hall, Rosscarbery and Three Castle Head,’ he said. ‘West Cork looks stunning in it.’

Peter, whose mother is originally from Skibbereen, is also involved in the hidden camera series, The Fear on RTE 2, which is the longest running hidden camera series in Ireland, as it enters its fourth season this Autumn.

‘We self-financed this film and what we did is allow all our main crew members to take a share of the film, so it’s a real communal effort. We’re currently in the process of editing it and we hope to apply to the Irish Film Board for completion funding.’

Peter and his team are hoping to get a nationwide cinema release for their film for next year, and they also hope to tour it on the international film festival circuit.

See TheYoungOffendersMovie on Facebook for more.