Cinema Screening: Stolen (12A)

‘Stolen’ reveals how women who had the misfortune to fall pregnant ‘out of wedlock’ were treated in an Ireland that was heavily influenced by the Catholic Church. Over 80,000 unmarried mothers were incarcerated in mother and baby institutions, mainly run by catholic nuns from 1922 to 1998. Most were cruelly separated from their babies after birth. Many of the children were adopted within Ireland and abroad – rendered untraceable and unaware of their birth story. Others were fostered out by the state as cheap farm labour from the age of six, often in circumstances abysmally devoid of care and love. 9,000 infants died in these institutions from 1922 to 1998, a rate that, on occasion, was five times the national average infant mortality rate. Survivors expose the shocking details of their treatment in a scandal that sparked a government inquiry into the fate of unmarried women who fell pregnant in 20th century Ireland.

Award winning Director Margo Harkin, of Besom Productions has been a filmmaker since 1984 when she co-founded the Channel 4 workshop Derry Film & Video. Her titles include Hush-A-Bye Baby (drama) and the documentaries, Bloody Sunday: A Derry Diary and 12 Days in July. In 2019 she was awarded the Outstanding Contribution to Documentary Filmmaking by Docs Ireland. In 2020 Margo was elected a member of Aosdána, an Irish government sponsored organisation honouring artists who have made an outstanding contribution to the arts. Margo’s films Hush-A-Bye Baby and Waveriders were listed by the Irish Times among the top Irish Films ever made.

Part of Fréa, a partnership of Irish charities, Renewing Roots offers free, confidential support for former residents of Ireland’s Mother and Baby and County Home institutions now living in the North of England. For more information: frea.org.uk