Michael Antonio Keane
Into the Silence is a short film inspired by young people in Ireland navigating the underground rave scene in search of connection, escape, and something real. Through late nights, quiet journeys home, and moments between the chaos, the film explores the emotional pull between togetherness and isolation. Honest, raw, and intimate, it captures a side of Ireland often felt more than seen. At its core, this short drama is about youth, belonging, and what remains when the music fades; the silence, and the vulnerability beneath it.
As a director, I’m deeply drawn to realism and to exploring the emotional core of historical movements and real-life experiences. That instinct led me to the 1990s Irish rave scene as the setting for Into The Silence. During that optimistic era, rave culture transformed Dublin as people from all backgrounds gathered in clubs like Sides, UFO, the Olympic Ballroom and the Asylum, or in whatever empty warehouse they could find, searching for release, connection and escape through music.
The film follows Bastien, a young DJ struggling to process a personal trauma while hiding his passion from disapproving parents. As he confronts the echoes of a life-altering event, he must rediscover both his creativity and sense of self. At its heart, Into The Silence explores resilience, recovery and the healing power of music.
I’ve always been inspired by piano house music from the late 1980s and early 1990s Acid House movement across Chicago, Detroit, the UK and Ireland. There’s something uniquely emotional and electrifying about house music in cinema, and I knew it needed to play a central role in Bastien’s world. Artists such as Carl Cox, N-Joi, Inner City, Joe Smooth and Frankie Knuckles heavily influenced the film’s atmosphere and inspired the creation of its original soundtrack.
With this project, I found a more personal form of storytelling; drawing from lived emotion, memory and experience to create something honest, intimate and human.
Remembered, if Outlived is a short period horror directed by Keita Prokopčenko.
In the early 1800s, talented painter Nora O’Hara lives under the suffocating rule of her abusive and domineering father. Nora learns of an arranged marriage to take place which deepens her already depressive state. Her immobile and mute mother serves as a reminder of what her fate could be if she refuses. However, another deeply haunting option for freedom is born in the form of a dark ghostly figure, which begins its possession over Nora
Michael Antonio Keane is an award-winning Spanish-Irish director and producer distinguished with a particular interest in atmospheric storytelling and exploration of youth subcultures. Keane has won multiple awards across Irish and International film festivals for his shorts and now holds a major in production and minor in editing .
