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One day you're sitting chilling out in Camlough wondering is it ever going to stop raining, and the next day you're in Germany at Berlinale, the prestigious Berlin International Film Festival awaiting the sold out World Premiere of the film that you play the lead role in!
Such is the present life of young talented Camlough man, Caolán O'Gorman, who this morning, 16 February is in the German capital with a week of film screenings, interviews, Q&A's and Award Ceremonies ahead of him.
Twenty two year old Caolán plays Alec, the lead role in the 2026 film 'Truly Naked' which has been nominated in the 'Perspectives' section of the festival, dedicated to first fiction features aiming to foster and spotlight serious emerging film talent from around the world. The independent production is written and directed by Muriel d’Ansembourg and it's her first feature film.
It's also Caolán's first feature film and it has an extremely challenging role from the get-go, based as it is on the porn industry and the relationship Alec develops within this unconventional environment.
The film synopsis explains "Surrounded by the family business of porn, Alec encounters a radically different understanding of intimacy when he meets Nina.
"Alec, a soft-spoken, introverted teenager, has always viewed life through the lens of his father’s small-time pornography business. When they relocate from London to a sleepy seaside town, Alec hopes for a fresh start, trying to make friends without revealing his unconventional life. Everything shifts when he meets the fiercely independent Nina, whose convictions redefine the world he has grown up in. As their relationship deepens, Alec’s understanding of sexuality and desire begins to shift. What begins as an unlikely connection evolves into a tender and unexpectedly heartwarming story about discovering real intimacy—and what it truly means to
be seen."
Newry.ie caught up with Caolán on Friday before he headed off, for his very first interview. It's all very new to him as he's never been to a premiere of a production he stars in before. "I'm looking forward to it. I'm scared about the interviews though, because I've never done them before." he said.
Caolán lost his mother when he was 12 and was brought up by his grandparents in the South Armagh village. A former St Paul's High School pupil he knew acting was what he wanted to do, completing a Screen Acting course at the National Screen Acting School of Ireland in Bow Street, Dublin.
Parts in Oliver both in Belfast and Newry and some small roles in The Northman and The School for Good and Evil have been played but this is his first full length feature film and his first experience of the red carpet treatment that a premiere entails.
Truly Naked came via his agent, the London based Independent Talent Group and it's taken a while to get to the big screen. After two auditions he got the part in September 2023 with filming carried out between October and January, 2024.
Because of the production content the actors were assigned an intimacy coordinator. Caolán explains "We did a lot of sex scenes in it that I obviously hadn't done before. It was challenging."
Speaking about how difficult casting was, Director and writer Muriel d’Ansembourg said "I’m impressed by everyone who had the guts to audition, they got that this film wasn’t about shock value but about finding something real in a messy situation."
Speaking on O'Gorman she added "One of the things I liked about Caolán O’Gorman’s tape when he read for the role of Alec, was that he wasn’t trying to ‘sell himself’. He’s naturally introverted and soft-spoken, and he shared key experiences with his character including losing his mother at age 12."
Caolán is aiming to act full time and independent productions are where he's most comfortable currently.
The World Premiere of Truly Naked takes place tonight in Berlin at 9.30pm in the Bluemax Theater. Three of the five screenings including tonight's are already sold out!
