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Kathryn Ferguson
Aidan Gillen’s 80s Pop Star Comeback is a Mind-Bending Moral Nightmare — And Astrology Might Just Spell Trouble!
Added on October 14, 2025 inMovie News Cards
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Are things really not what they used to be—or is that just Mercury messing with our memories again? Kathryn Ferguson, that Belfast bombshell behind the haunting Sinéad O’Connor doc Nothing Compares, flips the script with Nostalgie, a 19-minute fictional jaunt that tickles your brain and ruffles some serious emotional feathers. Picture this: a washed-up ’80s popstar gets an unexpected gig that drags him out of retirement and slams him into a moral quagmire darker than a Scorpio moon. With Aidan Gillen (yes, that crafty fellow from Game of Thrones) leading the charge, alongside the fierce Jessica Reynolds and Michael Smiley, this short dives deep into what it means to let your art slip through your fingers—especially when it’s hijacked by ghosts of a violent past.
Crafted from a short story by Wendy Erskine, penned by Stacey Gregg, and scored by Bastille’s Dan Smith, Nostalgie is one of four Film4-backed shorts premiering at the 69th BFI London Film Festival, under the aptly named theme “Pulling the Rug Out.” It’s a lot to unpack in under 20 minutes—but hey, sometimes the biggest cosmic questions come in the smallest packages. Ready to wrestle with nostalgia, history, and maybe a little societal chaos? Buckle up. LEARN MORE
Things just aren’t what they used to be! Or are they? And is that good, bad, or ugly? Nostalgie, a fiction short directed by Kathryn Ferguson, the Belfast-based filmmaker known for the likes of Sinéad O’Connor documentary Nothing Compares, will raise questions like that in your mind. And more!
“A 1980s popstar receives a surprising invitation to perform, pulling him out of musical retirement and into a moral dilemma,” reads a synopsis for the 19-minute short that stars Aidan Gillen (Game of Thrones, Peaky Blinders, Kin, Mayor of Kingstown, The Wire). Jessica Reynolds (Kneecap) and Michael Smiley (Bad Sisters, Alien: Earth, The Lobster, Blue Lights) also feature in the film.
Based on a short story by Wendy Erskine, Nostalgie was written by Stacey Gregg and produced by Stille Productions and Tara Films Production, in association with Globe Originals and Hopefield. Co-financed by Film4, the executive producers were Lucy Pullin, Neil Chordia, Tim Clark, Amy O’Hara, Eleanor Emptage, and Ferguson. The producers were Kath Mattock, Marie-Thérèse Mackle, and Marc Robinson, with editing by Mick Mahon and Edel McDonnell. Robbie Ryan served as the director of photography, with the songs and score courtesy of none other than Bastille’s Dan Smith.
One of four shorts supported by Film4 at the 69th edition of the BFI London Film Festival (LFF), it will world premiere on Friday, along with other shorts under the theme “Pulling the Rug Out.”
Ferguson discussed Nostalgie, the weight of history, and why, despite her reputation for doc work, she is planning to make more fiction features.
How did you come on board to direct this fictional story after making a name for yourself in docs?
Well, I’m Irish, obviously, and I had just made Nothing Compares, my feature documentary about Sinéad O’Connor. The producer in England reached out to me, saying: “Have you thought about drama?” And I said: “Well, I would love to do it.” But I’m a documentarian, and obviously that’s quite a long shot. But she said, “Have you thought about drama? And have you read the work of Wendy Erskine?” Wendy Erskine is an amazing Belfast born and bred writer. I’m from Belfast. And I was basically sent her manuscript of a book of short stories that she had written a couple of years ago by the producer Kath Mattock.
So I spent a bit of time reading through this book, and all of her short stories are incredible. They are modern fables about Northern Ireland today, but it was Nostalgie that really jumped out to me, because it just felt so deeply cinematic and relevant. And because I’d come off the back of making a film about an artist who often has had their work co-opted. Sinéad was being tortured by Trump for many years, with him using her song [“Nothing Compares 2 U“]. So, Nostalgie just really spoke to me as a filmmaker. I thought it’s a very interesting take on this idea of music slipping out of out of one’s hands. Let’s try and bring this to life!
Did you ever envision it as a feature film?
Very much, it was a short for me. It was a really wonderful chance to be able to take such strong material and then work through the process. We managed to bring in this incredible script writer, Stacey Gregg, who’s also from Belfast, and it was the process of working through this short with Stacey and Wendy. It just felt like a really self-contained story.
It was fascinating just to actually be part of that process and developing it from page to screen, which took a bit of time. And because it’s a film about these songs, about this musician, and about his words, we then had to write the songs as well. So that became a huge part of the creative process. And I worked with Dan Smith, who’s the lead singer of Bastille, and Wendy to really come up with the right lyrics for this song.
Kathryn Ferguson
To avoid spoilers, I’ll just say I loved the music of the song, but then also got scared and horrified when I saw what happens with it…
Well, it certainly needed to be that. It needed to be almost like a theme tune.
[SPOILER WARNING: The next question and answer contain spoilers!]
The protagonist’s song, we find out, is being used as an anthem of sorts by some people who have a past full of violence. Is that based on any real-life story?
The original story is based on the reality of paramilitary groups in Northern Ireland taking very famous singers’ music and using it in this way. One example is “Simply the Best: by Tina Turner, which is a theme song in Northern Ireland for a paramilitary group and has been for decades. It was this idea of taking something with such a catchy hook, and the lyrics being misconstrued.
How early on did you know that Aidan Gillen would play your protagonist, and what did you look for in the casting process?
We needed an actor who could stand up and sing. So that became a huge part of the casting process. And we were extremely fortunate to be able to get Aiden Gillen, an amazing piece of casting. He can sing, he’s Irish. He is playing an Englishman, but understands the intricacies and complexities of this story. And then he was able to stand up and perform to a room of wild-eyed men. It was complicated enough trying to find the right person, but we were thrilled with Aidan’s performance. He was incredible!
The rest of the cast is also amazing…
Yes, we had this incredible Northern Irish cast come on board. Jessica Reynolds, who just came off the back of Kneecap, and Michael Smiley. I just stood there thinking: “How did this work out like this??” It was an extraordinary experience, truly, honestly. It was really thrilling.
I’m curious: Do you plan to do more work in fiction and drama or are you going to return to docs? What are you working on next?
I’m just finishing a new feature documentary at the minute, which will hopefully be out in early 2026.
Can you share any details or do you have NDAs to stick to?
I can’t say much. But it’s a very natural step on from Nothing Compares.
Any fiction plans?
Yes, I’m starting to write a script, starting to get a treatment done, basically, for a drama feature that I will eventually want to try and get off the ground. Yeah, just the experience I had on this short was so potent, and I really, truly find it thrilling and exciting. It’s definitely whetted my appetite to do a lot more.
For more LFF 2025 shorts coverage, check out:
Sheep and Mob Mentality: ‘Flock’ Writer-Director Mac Nixon Wants to Reframe Welsh Identity on Screen
and
‘Magid / Zafar’ Writer-Director Luís Hindman Sets the Beat to Explore South Asian Masculinity
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