With his feature-length debut The Middle Finger, Republic of Telly sketch writer Seamus Hanly has left an unlikely stamp on Irish film history by making the nation's very first Troma Entertainment film. Troma, whose low-budget schlocky B-movies have given the likes of Billy Bob Thornton (Chopper Chicks in Zombietown), Kevin Costner (Sizzle Beach USA and Matt Stone (Cannibal! The Musical) their initial break now counts Hanly among its alumni with The Middle Finger, an outrageous and surreal take on the superhero genre.

Sitting down with Stuart Clark, Hanly talks about the hustle of independent film-making and how making a film is the best way to educate oneself about the trade. "I did four years at IADT, which was brilliant but I learned a million times more making this film than I did during my time at college."

"To quote Stanley Kubrick, 'The best way to learn how to make a movie... is to make a movie.'"

"The whole thing cost €3,000 to make, which is peanuts... not that we could afford peanuts. Because of cheap technology, the possibilities these days are limitless. In the '80s and '90s you instantly knew a movie was low budget from the sound and picture quality, whereas now you can buy/borrow a Canon 5D and a zoom and produce something that looks like it's come out of a Hollywood studio."

Read the full interview in our Student Special issue featuring Laura Whitmore and Danny O'Donoghue, available in stores now (August 17)– or you can order it now

The Middle Finger is coming to select cinemas and VOD platforms soon.