Last updated Nov 28, 2025 Share At the age of twelve, most people are trying to figure out why puberty hasn’t hit as they come to terms with the earth-shattering realisation that Santa isn’t real. Seán Treacy, on the other hand, was making the first of his eleven short films. Now twenty-one, Treacy’s CV continues to grow: he is a three-time winner of Young Filmmaker of the Year, won Best Direction at the 2022 All American High School Film Festival in New York City, and was awarded the 2024 Ardmore Studios Recognition Award. It is clear from speaking to Treacy that the accolades are unlikely to stop there – if he keeps going at this rate, he’ll need a second home before he hits forty to store the plaques and trophies. For Treacy, filmmaking is a vocation. “It really goes back as far as I can remember … I was in love with Doctor Who growing up, and after Doctor Who they would show Doctor Who Confidential, which gave the audience a chance to see behind the scenes of how each episode got made. There was something about the atmosphere on set – the equipment, seeing the actors as real people – that just hugely excited me. It reached a point where I was watching behind-the-scenes featurettes on DVDs more than the DVDs themselves!” The first real break came when, having joined a speech and drama class, Treacy got a role in a Tesco commercial. “I was seven, and that was my first time being physically on set. To be on a production like that, even on just a small commercial, was amazing. Seeing the cameras, seeing the actors, eating the catering – that all really lit the fire within me.” Treacy then tells me that he would receive a camcorder at the age of eight for his communion, and an iPod Touch at the age of ten, the latter of which was “a game changer. It allowed me to film and edit on the same device, so I just started making films religiously.” Given this context, it is perhaps no surprise that when Treacy entered his first film festival at the age of twelve, he was awarded Young Filmmaker of the Year. The rest will no doubt soon be history. “Up until that point, filmmaking was just a fun hobby, but suddenly I felt I might have some sort of talent. From there on in, I entered festivals every year. Cut to 2025, and Treacy is about to release his eleventh short film, Save Me From Heaven. The film has its roots in sci-fi (Doctor Who retains its grasp); but at its core, it is an exploration of grief, nostalgia, and the nature of life itself. It predominantly centres on the death of a young woman, Rachel, and her failed upload to a virtual version of the afterlife. Once there, Rachel must engage with members of her family she can no longer recognise in order to recover her memories and avoid deletion from her new home. Although the piece is far from the first entry in Treacy’s showreel, he says that it very much feels like his “first proper short film. Everything I’ve done up until now has been a very one-man show, very guerrilla. This is my first fully professional production, whereby everyone was paid, everyone involved is a professional, and my mum didn’t have to help with the catering!” Given the whole “virtual afterlife” of it all, it is not surprising that Black Mirror is mentioned. “Black Mirror will probably come to mind, but it is really harking back to my love of Doctor Who and sci-fi. Things that were naturally happening when I was writing, I would go ‘Wow that’s just like in Doctor Who,’ so it may even have been a subconscious thing. We carried through Doctor Who’s general eeriness, where you see characters saying lines they shouldn’t be saying – one scene in particular, where the daughter Julie talks to the main character, using these scientific terms, for me that goes right back to Who.” I’m very happy here in Ireland for how many funding resources in Ireland there are. I’ve a lot of friends in the States who have real difficulty finding local grants… There is, however, far more to Save Me From Heaven than your bog-standard sci-fi. At times, it is a genuinely moving depiction of the transience of life and the importance of what we leave behind. Treacy’s attention was brought to these themes “probably from when I was about fifteen, and I learned that Sudden Adult Death Syndrome was a thing. This idea that you could just drop dead on the spot without explanation – that made me go, ‘Oh my god, you’re telling me I can be living my life and then suddenly, without warning, things can just end?’” This recognition of our own mortality is perhaps what makes Treacy so prolific at such a young age. Naturally, he felt he had to express his epiphany on screen. “I began to think about what it would look like to have someone reflect on their entire life on screen, and how confused they would be to wake up in heaven and not really know how they got there. Then I got really interested in this idea of the dynamic between a mum not knowing who her daughter is and stuff like that, and the film just built from there.” Abby Fitz as Rachel in Save Me From Heaven Those moments in the film are legitimately powerful, with their impact augmented thanks to Treacy’s direction. Although Treacy at first struggled with no longer being a one-man show, in the sense of having to trust others to take responsibility for things he would usually do himself (particularly regarding cinematography), he notes that once those worries melted away, he was able to realise his vision like never before. “When I eventually just trusted everyone to do what they were doing, that’s when everything flowed so seamlessly. Everyone on the film made it incredible.” The synergy between those behind the camera appears to have extended to the entire production. Treacy waxed lyrical about the positive relationship he enjoyed with all of the actors involved. Although he knew many of the cast from previous productions, having worked in an acting capacity with the likes of Abby Fitz and Diarmuid Noyes, or having had his haircut by Ben Condron , it could be surmised that his own experience as an actor enabled him to connect with some cast members he hadn’t met before, such as Aida O’Malley and Muireann Ryan. Having acted in multiple productions, he refers to the acting experience as “incredibly liberating,” in that you are invited to “live in the moment,” whereas directing is almost “the exact opposite.” Perhaps it could be said that when an actor is dealing with a director who understands their craft, they are more likely to respond to their methods and welcome their feedback, adding yet another string to Treacy’s bow. While Treacy understands the virtues of acting, he certainly can also recognise its vices. During some interesting observations about working in film in general, he notes that “being an actor can be incredibly frustrating, as you can only work so often during the year. Jobs can be hard to come across, and getting a role can be difficult. That was a massive reason why I got into making my own films.” Regarding the industry more generally, he expresses a significant amount of gratitude for the amount of funding opportunities there are for filmmakers in Ireland. “I’m very happy here in Ireland for how many funding resources in Ireland there are. I’ve a lot of friends in the States who have real difficulty finding local grants, but in Ireland it feels like there are multiple opportunities – but maybe I am just an eternal optimist.” That is not to say, of course, that he would be “in any way opposed to an increase in funding opportunities!” It has to be said that Treacy carries a savant-like energy throughout this interview, which makes it clear that, as big a step as Save Me From Heaven is, it is merely the beginning. Thus, it is unsurprising to hear him say that he is “absolutely desperate to make my next short film, Strangers. It’s a bit of a drama and has themes that are somewhat in the zeitgeist, which I think will give it a bigger chance of getting some funding!” As for what the future holds more generally, he is, quite humbly, keen to stress that “right now it is all about Save Me From Heaven. I really want to get the word out there so that people can see how talented the actors are, the composers, the crew – I really want them to all get their flowers.” However, do not let the humility fool you – this is clearly a director with a massive future ahead of him. Indeed, it won’t be long before, instead of chatting to me on Zoom, he’ll be chewing the fat with Graham Norton on his red couch. Save Me From Heaven will premiere November 30th at the Foyle Film Festival Source: https://headstuff.org/entertainment/film/sean-treacy-interview-save-me-from-heaven/