Kildare County Council has announced that Hardback Films have been awarded the 2021 Short Grass Films Kildare commission for their short film Lambing, written and directed by Katie McNeice.
An award of €12,500 will be made to shoot the film on location in Co Kildare. The film centres on a young rural dad who must face his own anxiety around gender and bullying when his baby is born intersex.
Arts Officer for Kildare County Council, Lucina Russell congratulated the creative team on the film which she described as ‘‘…a very important story about a topic which has rarely explored in Ireland, delivered through sensory story-telling and a strong visual aesthetic.”
I have been working on this script and following the gradual awareness of intersex in Ireland for almost three years now, so finally getting to make this film is an incredible feeling. My greatest hope for Lambing is that it will broaden our understanding about how much work is left to do, particularly in Ireland, in terms of fighting for diversity in all aspects of life. Before we can meaningfully speak about minority identities such as intersex, we need to dissemble our long-standing and often toxic ideas of gender. We need to get to a place where we realise we have no more right to put our fear or prejudice on gender diverse bodies than we do our hands. Thanks a million to the Kildare team for awarding Mo and I this bursary to bring Lambing to life at last.
Katie McNeice, Writer/Director
Katie McNeice’s debut short In Orbit has garnered 50 awards and counting, including a Special Jury Mention at the Galway Film Fleadh and a ZeBBie Nomination from the Writers Guild of Ireland for Best Short Script. She is currently working on projects through the Irish Language, including Focail Baile Croí (Words Home Heart) which explores themes of home, love and grief. This project is the 2020 winner of the Comórtas Fisín pitching competition and 2021 Catalyst International Film Festival Screenwriting Award. Lambing is also the recipient of the prestigious 2020 IMDb Script to Screen Award. Other writing work includes feature film Lily, co-written and directed by Graham Cantwell, which is currently in post-production.
I am delighted to be producing the powerful and beautiful script Lambing by the brilliant talent Katie McNeice. I’m looking forward to working with lots of Kildare cast and crew and we are going to pull out all of the stops and ensure Lambing will be a production Kildare will be proud of.
Mo O’Connell, Producer
Mo O’Connell is an award-winning filmmaker and founder of production company 3 Hot Whiskeys. Her newest Screen Ireland funded short, HUM, will next screen at the Fastnet film Festival and she is developing the feature film Fair Game based on her short film Girls, via the Screen Ireland Spotlight Scheme with co-writer Gemma Creagh. Mo’s Screen Skills mentor is Emma Norton of Element Pictures.