Project Detail

Stolen

Synopsis

STOLEN is the story of women who had the misfortune to fall pregnant ‘out of wedlock’ in an Ireland that heavily influenced by the Catholic Church. Over 80,000 unmarried mothers were incarcerated in institutions run by nuns from 1922 to 1998. Mothers and babies were cruelly separated shortly after birth with thousands of babies taken for adoption and their birth records rendered untraceable. 9,000 infants died from 1922 to 1998, a rate sometimes five times the national average. Others were fostered out as cheap farm labour from the age of six.
It was a history that was largely ignored until the discovery that 796 babies had died between 1925 and 1961 in the Tuam Mother and Baby Home alone. Evidence of tiny remains found in an underground sewage plant on the site of the former home caused outrage and alarm escalated over what happened in other institutions such as Bessborough in Cork and Sean Ross Abbey in Tipperary where more children died without burial records. The Irish government announced an investigation into Mother and Baby homes.
Survivors relate their experiences of cruelty and loss and of happier outcomes in some cases, interwoven with historical analysis and artists’ responses to what happened.
Official Selection London Irish Film Festival 2023 - World premiere

Details

Year: 2023
Type of film: Features
Running time: 103 min
Format: 4K
Director: Margo Harkin
Producer: Martha O'Neill
Editor: John Murphy and Patrick Hodgins
Screenwriter: Margo Harkin
Director of Photography: Colm Hoban
Production Designer: Padraig O'Neill (Development), Rita Duffy (Finale)
Sound: Hugh Fox, Trevor McKenna, David Dolan
Composer: Deirdre Gribbin
With Contributions from: Anna Corrigan, Teresa Collins, Marie Arbuckle, Colleen Anderson, Noelle Brown, Patrick O'Flaherty, Adele Johnston, JoAnne Neary

Genre

Human Rights Northern Irish Woman Director

Production Status

Complete

Production Company

A Besom Productions (UK), Wildfire Films (IE) production

Besom Productions

13 Glenabbey Cottages
Upper Galliagh Road
Derry
BT48 8LP
Northern Ireland

Visit Website

Page updates

This page was last updated on 12th May 2025. Please let us know if we need to make any amendments or request edit access by clicking below.

Suggest amendments

A landmark feature documentary about astronaut Eileen Collins, the first woman to pilot and command the Space Shuttle. Eileen’s incredible journey starts with her smalltown beginnings, sees her smash through many glass ceilings, and culminates in four dramatic space shuttle missions, the last being possibly the most dangerous and most important of them all. At its heart the film is the moving human drama of one family, where a mother’s extraordinary career takes us straight to the big philosophical question of what is the level of acceptable risk in human endeavour? This film celebrates Commander Collins’ trailblazing NASA career which opened the way for women to become spacecraft pilots and commanders, and proved a perfect riposte to a previous generation of male astronauts who thought there was no place for women to lead the way in space. Official Selection DOC NYC 2024 - World premiere Official Selection CPH:DOX 2025 - European premiere

Woman Director

I Saw the Face of God in the Jet Wash

Director: Mark Jenkin

Year: 2025

Between film screenings across the world, Mark Jenkin muses on cinematic influences, ponders cultural history and reflects upon home. Official Selection Toronto International Film Festival 2025 - World premiere Official Selection BFI London Film Festival 2025 - European premiere

Biography Experimental

Broken English

Director: Iain Forsyth, Jane Pollard

Year:

The layered structure on which BROKEN ENGLISH rests is the fictional ‘Ministry of Not Forgetting’ (led by Tilda Swinton and her trusty interviewer George MacKay), who take Marianne Faithful on a journey into a rich and event-filled past. Images, clips and interviews are interspersed with musical responses by Beth Orton, Courtney Love and Nick Cave, creating an inventive and soulful portrait of cultural icon Marianne Faithfull. Official Selection Venice Film Festival 2025 - World premiere Official Selection BFI London Film Festival 2025 - Documentary Special Presentation

Biography Music Woman Director