Ivan Kavanagh is an Irish filmmaker, writer and director, best known for Son (2021) The Canal (2014) and Never Grow Old (2019).
He self-financed his early micro-budget feature films by working several jobs and buying his own camera, editing and sound equipment, serving not only as director/writer, but also editor, sound designer and occasional composer on all of his films until The Canal (2014).
[1][6] In 2019, Ivan's western Never Grow Old produced by Ripple World Pictures, starring John Cusack and Emile Hirsch, was released in cinemas worldwide, also to critical acclaim.
[1][8] The production was beset by a number of disasters during the shoot in Mississippi including two tornadoes, one of which lifted a huge tree onto one of the houses where they were due to shoot the next day, forcing Kavanagh to rewrite the scene, incorporating this into the story.
Kavanagh was also approached by a self-proclaimed Satanist on set who said they were messing with dark forces and should stop, which gave way to rumors that the film was cursed.