Rally of the Lakes

The Rally of the Lakes is held annually in County Kerry in the southwest of Ireland. In May 2019, Michael Fassbender was invited to take part in the rally in his hometown of Killarney.

With the event being held over a weekend, and a small but capable team at hand, the major challenge was getting as much coverage as possible. Tasked with handling the cinematography, both aerial and ground, and capturing in-car footage including sound, the planning of the routes and filming locations was key to getting the best shots possible. During a Rally, the roads are closed long before the competing cars attempt the stages, so getting access meant we had to be well ahead of the circus.

When the dust settled on Sunday Craig Breen and local man Paul Nagle were the winners of the event and Michael managed to keep it between the hedges with the help of his navigator Barry Goodman. The close work with Director Marco Conte and camera operator Niall Foley produced a large amount of great coverage that resulted in the film being considerably longer than it’s original 5-minute brief.

At just under 20 minutes long, the three-part series explores the story of the Rally itself, as well as how Michael found his way to being behind the wheel of a Ford Mk II Escort, and of course the Rally winners themselves, Craig and Paul.