Kilkenny film on Civil War to feature in festival in Belgrade

The Kilkenny-made film “Dear Mother” directed by Kevin Hughes will be shown at the Belgrade Irish Festival from March 8 to 18.

This festival is a major celebration of Irish Culture and is centred around St Patrick’s Weekend every year.

Kevin will be going to the festival to discuss the film and represent the filmmaking community in Kilkenny.

The film is set during the Irish Civil War in 1922 and tells the true story of a young man executed for stealing money to buy guns for the IRA. The story centres around the last letters he writes to his mother the night before he dies.

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An initial search about Kilkenny and the Civil War turned up the letter from John Murphy to his mother written on the eve of his execution. Kevin then met Larry Scallan of Kilkenny Military Heritage Tours, at Stephens Barracks in Kilkenny who knew about the missive.

Kevin explains: “When I met him, we went in and looked at the cells and talked about the story and fleshed it out a bit. Even though the events of the story are created in the film, I invented parts like the soldier - he symbolises all Irish people that wouldn’t be supportive of someone getting shot although he’s caught in an impossible situation himself, I wanted to bring more humanity to the actual events.”

At its heart, this is a film about humans’ basic empathy for each other. No matter what the ideology and differences between people, that common understanding of what life is, connects us. Kevin says that for his characters, “Life was a shared language, a shared experience,” despite their political ideologies.

For Kevin, Dear Mother aims to illustrate that “the taking of a life is a profound thing.”

“Dear Mother” tells the tragic true story of John Murphy and John Phelan who were executed on the 29th of December 1922 in Stephens Barracks, Kilkenny.

“The Irish Civil War is a dark stain on our history and it is important that stories like this are told and reach as large an audience as possible to raise awareness of some of the tragic and horrific events that took place during the war,” explained Kevin.

The film is 24 minutes long and explores the relationship between one of the condemned men John Murphy and his prison guard Tom before his impeding execution they slowly begin to understand each other and become friends.

The film is inspired by an actual letter written by John Murphy to his mother a few hours before his execution. According to Kevin what comes across through his words are an acceptance and registration to his fate and a deeply held faith in God. It is the simple sincere language that inspired Kevin Hughes to make Dear Mother.

“This is a film about our basic empathy for each other. No matter what the ideology and differences between people that common understanding of what life is connects us.

Kevin started the project by looking for ‘ a little gem of an idea’ explaining ‘I didn’t want to tell political stories, I just wanted to tell human stories’.

The film was shot in Kilkenny in 2022 with local talent and crew. Some of the film was actually shot in the very location where the two men were imprisoned and the exact yard where the executions took place. This adds a great deal of authenticity to the film, making the film there had a profound effect on the cast and crew.

“A big part of the film was the location, actually shooting in the barracks. It was spooky - it was very emotional. We felt we had to be incredibly respectful to the people that had walked those corridors.”

The film is supported by the Kilkenny Decade of Centenaries Grant Scheme 2022.

Many of the cast and crew of Dear Mother are local: John Rice (the Free State soldier) is from the Pococke Road and currently studying drama in London, another lead Brendan Corcoran (the Free State officer) is from Ballycallan, the cameraman Brendan Comerford is from Kilkenny while Georgina Brennan-Styne playing the mother is from Carlow. The excellent Éanna Grogan who portrays John Murphy with great sensitivity is from Clonmel.

Kevin Hughes is an award-winning filmmaker living and working from Kilkenny. He has over 40 professional film credits to his name and has worked on projects ranging from major documentaries, feature films and short drama films. He has travelled around the world as a documentary filmmaker but now works from Kilkenny on a number of other drama projects he has in development.

For more see eng.belgradeirishfestival.rs/