He brushed his right hand across his eye, as if wiping away a tear. The girl in the green uniform got up from her seat and offered him a tissue. He took it, said, ‘Thanks, Carmel,’ and continued.

‘But I’ll do what you want, I’ll follow your so-called rules. And I’ll go now, and leave you to your rules – my God, if you had any understanding of the talent in this room, but you don’t, all you people care about is fucking red tape – so, yeah, I’ll go, but you’re not off the hook, Fitzpatrick. These kids deserve an explanation from you. You need to tell them just what’s wrong with Jeremy Gill, and with Jeremy Gill what you see is what you get, giving his time to them. You know, the trouble with you people, you fucking bureaucrats, is that you strangle creativity. It’s never “yes you can”, it’s always “no you can’t”. I really thought Cork was better than that. You know, honestly? I think it is better, but there are bad apples everywhere, kids, remember that. It’s up to people like us to fight for what’s right.’

He turned to Alice Chambers. He spoke slowly, and with great control.

‘I will be writing a letter of complaint to the board. And I will be telling them that I will never, as long as I live, visit Cork Film Festival again. Not only that, I won’t let any of my films come here again.’

He nodded at his security guard and made for the door, followed at speed by his assistant. Alice Chambers scurried after them, but Gill stopped her, hands up, shoulder height, both palms facing the room.

‘Damage done. Too late. I’ll send a car to the hotel for my things, but I’m leaving right now. If you knew the opportunities I’ve passed up, if you only knew how hard it was to make time in my schedule so that I could come to this festival. And you know why? Because it means so much to me. But no more. No more. I’m out of this city right now, and you have that, that stupid lawyer bitch to thank for it, I’m sorry about the language, but it’s the only word that truly fits. I know you’ll forgive me, kids, and, hey, meeting you guys, it’s been a blast, a total blast.’

He stood for a moment longer and swallowed. He still had Carmel’s tissue in his hand. Now, his fist closed tightly around it. He looked down but, after a pause, he looked up again, stared straight at me, and shook his head. Then he waved at the students, and left.