A short film starring Paul Mescal is to being shown at this year’s virtual Dublin Film Festival (March 3-14).

The film, Drifting, is one of the Normal People actor’s many projects from the last couple of years. Mescal has been busy appearing in music videos and is set to star in Maggie Gyllenhaal’s directorial debut The Lost Daughter as well as in the musical, Carmen.

Drifting tells the tale of Cian (Mescal) and Pat (Dafhyd Flynn) who have been best friends since they were young boys. Pat becomes curious about the world beyond the confines of their small town life while Cian seems content, and a strain grows on their friendship.

The 14-minute short film’s co-director and co-writer took to Twitter to announce the good news yesterday (January 18).

Delighted to have ‘Drifting’ screening as part of this year’s @DublinFilmFest. Been a regular attendee of the festival for years so it’s great to be screening at it for the first time! pic.twitter.com/8kc5JRxFJm

— Robert Higgins (@roberthiggins89) January 18, 2021

“Delighted to have ‘Drifting’ screening as part of this year’s @DublinFilmFest. Been a regular attendee of the festival for years so it’s great to be screening at it for the first time!” wrote Robert Higgins.

Tickets for the short film programmes, all of which take place on March 3, are available now here, while the full programme is set to be launched on February 3.

In other news, Mescal revealed late last year that he and his Normal People co-star Daisy Edgar-Jones played a drinking game while rewatching the series together.

The pair rose to fame in 2020 thanks to the hit BBC series, which is adapted from the Sally Rooney novel and focuses on the relationship between characters Connell and Marianne.

“We hadn’t actually watched it together, Daisy and I,” he explained to GQ in November. “Because of lockdown, we hadn’t done that, so last week we got together and watched the whole thing through. We actually ended up playing a little drinking game: every time Connell wouldn’t complete a sentence or any time Marianne would make an emphatic statement that made Connell uncomfortable we did a shot.”

He added that the pair just “ended up talking over most” of the series, reflecting on particular days, costume changes and memories.