Irish Redhead Convention

Posted on Aug 27, 2013 in Being Ginger

Human beings have so much potential for goodness, for kindness, for warmth.

Something amazing happens whenever a large group of people get together with the simple hope of having a good time. For example, every year people from all over the world visit a small town in Finland for the World Air Guitar Championships, in Gloucestershire they gather to watch a group of people run down a steep hill after a wheel of cheese, and in Austin, Texas they celebrate Eeyore’s birthday. It almost doesn’t matter the reason for the gathering, it’s the heart of the people who come together that makes the difference. That is what the Irish Redhead Convention is to me.

I met a lovely young woman over the weekend, she had red hair and said that her boyfriend did as well, but he wouldn’t come to the convention because he didn’t want his mates to slag him off. I did a radio interview on Friday and they questioned the whole idea of a group of redheads getting together. But there’s another way to look at it; this wasn’t really 2,000 redheads gathering because of their hair, this was 2,000 (really closer to 3,000) people from all over the world getting together because they wanted to smile and have a laugh and make new friends and lifelong memories. And that’s exactly what we did.

So to sum up the whole experience, I arrived late into Cork on Wednesday night and took the twenty minute trip to Crosshaven, a lovely seaside town where the festivities would take place. I didn’t even get to drop my bag off before being immediately taken to the pub. It was the birthday of one of my hosts, Denis Cronin. The entire convention started four years ago as a birthday party for Denis. His sister, Joleen wanted to throw him a party and for a laugh she said let’s only invite other redheads. It was small at first, only a few hundred people came for the one day event, but after four years it has grown into a massive three day festival. (It’s hard to put a definite figure on it, over 2,400 registered, but there where a huge amount who turned up without actually signing in.)

When I arrived at the pub Joleen introduced me to a friend of hers named Katie. Our conversation went something like this:

Katie: Are you here for the convention?
Scott: I am.
Katie: And what are you most looking forward to?
Scott: I’d have to say the film screening on Sunday.
Katie: What about the pub crawl on Friday night?
Scott: Oh, I’m sure that will be good fun, but I’m more excited about the screening.
Katie: But how can you beat a good pub crawl?
Scott: Well, I hear the film that’s playing is really good.
Katie: How good could it be?
Scott: Well, I saw the trailer and I think it looks amazing. I think it’s safe to say that the film will be the highlight of my weekend.

This carried on for about five minutes before I finally told her I was the filmmaker; her face turned red. Maybe it was a bit cruel to tease her like that, but I thought it was an excellent example of a “meet-cute.” Sadly, she worked in the pub all weekend and I never had a chance to talk to her properly after that.

On Thursday we did lots of press. Joleen and I went up to Dublin with the reigning Queen of The Redheads, the lovely and talented Mairín Rua, to appear on Channel 3′s Morning Show. We also did a number of different radio interviews, as well as some newspaper things. One Newspaper called me Scott Vance. I’ve no idea where they got that from.

On Friday I tagged along with the King and Queen to Fota, a fantastic wildlife park, were they posed for photographs with everyone who was interested. (Many of the families that came down for the weekend took their kids to the park for the day and they were delighted to see the King and Queen walking about in full regalia.)

When I got back to Crosshaven I sat down in the pub and ordered a glass of The Macallan 25, a particularly fine single malt whisky. Then I launched the film online and reflected on the last three years. I also drank to my father’s good health, it was his 75th birthday, and the film is dedicated to him. That was the first of many times I got emotional over the weekend.

We had a nice kickoff event with The Lord Mayor of County Cork, a kind gentleman who was very eager to see my film (that or he’s just a natural politician.) Next came the red pub crawl; we were divided up into about six different groups and with locals to guide us we hit the pubs. I made it home safe and sound and at a respectable hour.

On Saturday I was up bright and early to get ready for my first official role at the convention: I was one of the judges for the competitions. I had hoped to get to judge King and Queen, and maybe use my position to hit on the potential queens, but there were so many people for the different competitions they had to divide the judges up. (A number of people asked me to enter for King, and it was pointed out that it would be brilliant publicity for the film, after all the newly crowned King and Queen would appear in newspapers all over the world, but I’m not that cynical to try to highjack an event like this for my own purposes. Plus I’ve no aspiration to be king, however if they ever create a title of court jester, I’ll be there.) Along with one of the former Queens, Julie, I got to judge Best Red Beard, Best Red Eyebrows, Best Ex-Redhead, Best Wannabe Redhead, Longest Red Hair, and Curliest Redhead. All the categories were fiercely fought over, but I was very happy with the winners we found. (Each entrant paid €2, with the money going to the Irish Cancer Society.)

But judging meant that I missed out on a fair bit of the afternoon’s activities. Every time I looked up the quaint village was absolutely teeming with redheads engaged in all manner of activities.

The rest of the day is something of a haze to me now, the stress of the upcoming screening was starting to get to me. I know that we crowned a new King and Queen, and I recall a fine wine tasting, but I think I had a bit too much. I knew that I wasn’t going to be brilliant company that night so I again turned in early.

On Sunday morning my heart was racing. I walked into town and things were much quieter. Right away a young woman walked up to me. She was from the US and she’d come over for the festival. She did not have red hair, but she was a fan of the redheads, and as it happened she was one of the 311 people who generously donated to my Kickstarter campaign. We talked for a bit and then I visited the carrot tossing contest and took part in a photo project called MC1R - The Red Hair Gene. Then I was off to get ready for the screening.

The film played in an underground vault at a WWI fort. Right beforehand there was a lecture from a group of scientists about the genetics of red hair. I had no chance of being able to listen to them so I went for a walk to get some air, although I’m told they proved that more people in Scotland carry the red hair gene than anywhere else, and that Edinburgh is the most populated city (per capita).

The room was packed for the screening with a crowd of people having to stand at the door.

Joleen introduced me, and that’s when things got weird. I’d spent so much time imagining what I wanted to say to introduce my first film, to express how grateful I was and how much it all meant to me, but as I stood there, all that emotion hit me like a ton of bricks and I couldn’t aim through the tears. I’m told someone recorded it and I’ll try to get a copy of the footage.

During the screening I stood at the back of the room and watched my film for the first time. Oh, I must have seen it 500 times in its different forms since I had the first assembly 9 months ago, but this might have been the first time I actually saw it. It is difficult for me to talk about my own film like this, but I’ll try: they loved it. They laughed all the way through, sometimes laughing so hard that they missed the next line. They also gasped in unison and let out loud sighs at all the right moments. They hissed when I said I wouldn’t date a redhead myself, but they didn’t walk out, and when the final shot ended and the first credit came up, they erupted in thunderous applause. Finding out that it worked, and worked so well, was a complete relief. For most of the screening I stood there leaning against the back wall with tears running down my cheeks. They were tears of joy.

Then I got up for a twenty minute Q&A. After the customary questions about updates to the end of the film, I was most touched by the questions and comments from the non-redheads in the audience. While the redheads said they couldn’t wait to show the film to their friends so they could understand what it was like being ginger, it was the non-redheads who really touched me. A kind American gentleman who wasn’t there because of an attachment to redheads, but because he was passing though and thought a redhead convention would be good fun, raised his hand and said, “Thank you so much for making this. I relate so much to what you went through in the film and I’m just wondering if you knew when you started on this that you would make something with the potential to effect millions of people, not just redheads?” I said that I didn’t; when I set out I thought it would be a fun short film. As for effecting millions of people, I don’t know. I sincerely hope so, I’m going to do everything I can to have it seen far and wide but I have no marketing budget. I’m depending on word of mouth to carry it and for people to give it a chance.

There were many non-redheads in the audience, and after the Q&A they came up to me to shake my hand and thank me for making the film and I started getting emotional again.

After a deep sigh of relief I headed for the pub and had a nice long talk with a group who had been at the screening. I’m particularly happy to say that my kickstarter backer loved the film. I’m very grateful to each and every one of them and it was very important to me that she like it.

I finished the evening sitting around a fire with 15 of my new friends until three in the morning eating fresh crab, listening to beautiful Irish folk songs, sung a cappella by a few different individuals, and watching two Dutch men try to chase down a lose rabbit. All in all, a night I’ll never forget.

I want to finish this by saying two things:

First, the Irish have a strong reputation for hospitality and kindness, and everyone that I came across from Wednesday to Monday lived up to that. I want to thank Joleen, Denis, and their wonderful parents for everything they did for me, as well as all of the locals and volunteers who did so much to support the convention. In all my travels I’ve never met kinder people (which is no slight to all the other wonderful people I’ve met along the way.)

And secondly, this screening re-affirmed my desire to organize screenings of the film all over the world. Things are progressing slowly but nicely on that front, and I hope to have it in the first cities in the US sometime in October. But please, if you want a screening, write in and tell me where you live so I can get in touch when I have something planned.

Now it’s time to get ready for the grand-daddy of them all: The Redhead Days