Age & Opportunity is delighted to announce that director Cathy Dunne and producer Maggie Ryan have been awarded the tender to create a short film documenting and celebrating the experiences of older LGBTQIA+ persons in Ireland. This film will premiere during Bealtaine 2021.
With a combined experience of 13 years in the film industry, their work has been selected and won awards at various festivals including: Kerry International Film Festival 2020, Paris Lift-Off Film Festival 2020, Cork Film Festival 2020, and Dublin International Film Festival 2021.
The pair recently produced ‘Through the Pane’, a 17-part online series documenting the lives of front-line workers, volunteers, and cocooners during the first wave of the pandemic in Ireland. The final episode, which featured couple Seán and Caitlín Máirtín, gained over 1 million views in three weeks. The couple (aged 101 and 97 years respectively) met in 1945 and, through their humorous approach to life, inspired and entertained people around the country.
Other projects include ‘Imprints’, a short documentary about Cathy’s late Aunty Mary and Uncle Denis, celebrating their life through memories and the universality of the human experience.
For this short film, they hope to show viewers that “older people have more to offer than just their past”, while embracing the present and looking forward to the future. They want this documentary to support and empower the older LGBTQIA+ community, showing a place of joy, self-esteem and pride.
We are delighted to have a team as experienced and talented as Cathy and Maggie on board for this project, and look forward to sharing the finished film with you this May for Bealtaine 2021.