With a slew of successful short films under their belts, directors Neil Ely and Lloyd Eyre-Morgan have finally broken into feature film. And what a first feature it is. Shot over nine months, with a crew mostly comprised of working-class queer creatives, Departures is a high-energy comedy drama focused on a toxic relationship with Eyre-Morgan and Hollyoaks star David Tag in leading roles.

FILMHOUNDS got to sit down with Ely and Eyre-Morgan just before Departures premiered at the BFI Flare Festival to dive into how their unique LGBTQ+ feature got made. On balancing the comic with the tragic, Eyre-Morgan explained, “The balance of that came from when we were watching back the footage, because we had the advantage that we filmed this over 9 months on weekends. We did one weekend a month, so we had three weeks to sit with the footage and be like, ‘I think this needs a little bit of humour here, and this bit maybe we don't, pull back the humour.'”

Ely elaborated, “Coming from a lower working-class background, in the North… I think there is a big humour around… making the best of what you got. Maybe it's the family or community I've grown up with, they find humour in everything. You can be at a funeral and everybody can start laughing.”

You can watch the full interview with Ely and Eyre-Morgan below, where they also discuss casting Tag, authentic representation, and dreaming about Geri Halliwell.