'The Ferry' makes Oscars long list
A short film by a Wicklow filmmaker could be in contention for an award at this year's Oscars.
Director Niall McKay's 'The Ferry' has qualified for the short live action Academy long list.
Described as a darkly comic mystery with a twist, the film focuses on a young woman who battles ancient forces of church and state in a bid to find her birth mother. It reveals many women's struggles with losing their children to mother and baby homes.
'The Ferry' is a short drama that explores the themes of secrecy, family, loss and regeneration set against the backdrop of the mother and baby homes in small town Ireland. It was shot on location in Shillelagh and Tinahely, Gorey in Co Wexford and in Crooke, Co Waterford.
'We came to the film while researching a documentary about adoption some years ago and it has always interested me that men were never mentioned in the context of mother and baby homes,' said director Niall McKay. 'Not as fathers, not as doctors, and not as the family members who often put women in these homes.'
The cast includes Aoife Duffin ('Moone Boy'), Deirdre Donnelly ('Ballykissangel') and Clodagh Bowyer, ('Bloomsday on Broadway') supported by comic performances from Rosaleen Linahan, Gus McDonagh, and John Olohan.
The film has been showcased at many film festivals, including the Galway Film Fleadh, the Foyle Film Festival and the Newport Beach Film Festival where it has received many awards.