Echo journalist turned aspiring filmmaker Sarah Horgan says it is a dream come true that her short film Do-Gooders is featuring in this year’s Cork International Film Festival.

The pure Cork short stars 78-year-old Patsy (Berna Gordon), who is plagued by visits from “do-gooders”, and finds a way to outsmart a condescending meals-on-wheels worker Dympna (Katie Duggan).

Sarah wrote and directed the light-hearted comedy, which she says also raises important questions about why people do charity, as well as themes of loneliness and autonomy for older people.

Another aim of the film, Sarah says, is to create a character that “does not fit the mould of your typical heroine” and offer a leading role to a woman outside of the age bracket normally seen in a casting context.

“Every time that you’re watching a film about an old person it’s always that they’re a victim… this is to show an older person as a capable strong character,” she said.

First inspired to start making films eight years ago, after interviewing the senior programmer of the film festival for an article, Sarah said that her day job is a great source of ideas for fictional stories.

“Someone might say something off the cuff in an interview, and it might end up in a film. There’s a lot of things that you can’t write in an article that you can put into a film because they’re all just fictional characters that can say whatever they want,” she said.

Shot on a shoestring budget of only €400, with a team of friends who have been making shorts together in Cork for years Sarah said that it is “like a dream” to have Do-Gooders featured in the Cork International Film Festival.

The Pure Cork shorts that are in the running for the Best Cork Short Award, including Do-Gooders, will be screened in the Everyman at 1.30pm on Saturday, November 19, with the winner announced immediately afterwards.