Media Luna

Samanta Nobody

by Ciarán Creagh

Synopsis | Cast & Crew | Technical Information

Samanta is sixteen, homeless and already a master of living on the streets. Well wizened in the art of surviving life on the streets, she gets though life day-by-day, begging to eat, refusing all state help on principle and even being a car park attendant for Saturday evening mass. She does not drink, well not for the last four years anyhow. Wise and organised she lives in a derelict prefab, showers and eats on the goodwill of strangers, washes her clothes in a local launderette, eats in a Mission kitchen and is well known in the homeless community. Glimmers of her previous life, although hidden, impinge and influence her daily existence. No matter how well organised many dangers exist for a young woman living on the streets, and a simple occurrence can quickly unravel a life into disaster when you live on the margins of society. Unexpectedly, losing her "home" to redevelopment starts a downward spiral in Samanta’s fortunes. Her best friend on the streets, Mary Ann, 60s, eclectic, owes a drug dealer and this debt has fallen on Samanta who went guarantor for her. Samanta does her best to avoid him. As she goes deeper into extreme homelessness, her life disintegrates day by day in front of her own eyes. Searching out for help only ends in closed doors and a confrontation with the drug dealer rips her world apart. The one thing Samanta has is music. She writes, sings and plays but only for herself and never in public. The owner of a local music store has taken a fatherly interest in her and lets her play in the shop, and soon realises her talent. Resisting his suggestions of going busking, Samanta now has the choice to either give up on life or fight and survive. She has to realise that music can be her savour. This film depicts the reality of homelessness but demonstrates the ability of a young women to survive in a shocking, dangerous uncaring world.

Cast

Ruby Jean Lennon

Brendan Conroy

Maggie Hannon

Director Bio

Ciarán Creag his a playwright, screenwriter, producer and director. He is a member of the Screen Directors Guild of Ireland. His writer/producer/director credits include the features Samanta Nobody (2025), Ann (2022), In View (2016), Parked (2011) and the shorts The Note, and The Picnic. The feature The Lightkeeper, which he wrote is due for release 2025 starring Dominic Cooper, Sarah Gadon and Aidan Quinn.

Director Statement

The core of the story is moving on from homelessness when you thought you never would through the love of music, composing and singing with the help of people who care. My hope for the film is for the audience to champion our sixteen year old teenager, as she struggles with life, on her journey through music to her salvation.

Cast Bio

Ruby Jean Lennon has been studying drama since she was five and performed in shows and short films over the course of the last few years. Cast from open auditions, Ruby’s natural ability to interpret has produced the most amazing debut performance to be seen in many years.

Brendan Conroy is one of Ireland’s most esteemed Film, TV & Theatre actors. He has worked with acclaimed directors John Boorman, Neil Jordan and Lenny Abrahamson. Film credits include Kings, Last Mango in Dublin, A Love Divided, The General, This is My Father, Butcher Boy, Moll Flanders, An Awfully Big Adventure, Circle of Friends, Words Upon the Window Pane and The Bounty.

Maggie Hannon is an actor and theatre maker working as a freelance artist based between Dublin, Cork and Donegal. She qualified with MA (hons) in Authorial Acting from the theatre faculty of the Academy of Performing Arts (DAMU) in Prague in June 2018. Maggie is bilingual in Irish and English and a regular actor on TG4’s Ros na Rún (2019-23) and Crá (2024) also for BBCNI.

Crew

Producers: Ciaran Creagh, Ferdia Doherty, Niall Flynn

Director of Photography David Grennan

Editor Tony Cranstoun

Composer Roger Taylor

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