I recently interviewed Northern Irish filmmaker Phil Harrison (“Even Gods”), who is crowd-funding his debut feature, The Good Man, set in Ireland and South Africa. The film follows a young banker in Belfast and a teenager in Cape Town whose lives unexpectedly collide in ways neither anticipated. Harrison shares, “We’re almost at our crowdfunding target — less than 50 shares left of 400 total.” Aiden Gillen (The Wire, Game of Thrones) is signed on to play the lead. Here’s our email interview:

Can you explain the connections between South Africa and Northern Ireland that inspired your film?

I’m from Belfast and volunteered in South Africa’s Kwazulu-Natal province in my early twenties. I was struck by the problematic nature of “charity” from the West, oversimplifying the struggles faced by Africans. Later, I became interested in how creativity helps articulate identity and protest — whether in Belfast or Sub-Saharan Africa. My experiences, including meeting African artists and reading thinkers like Fanon, led to the idea of merging two post-conflict societies I’m familiar with and exploring what could emerge.