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SHORTSCREEN: BREATHE

Shortscreen: Breathe - poster Image Name: Shortscreen: Breathe - poster
Shortscreen: Breathe Image Name: Shortscreen: Breathe

Breathe is in the Shortscreen slot on Monday 21 August at 00.35am

 

LOGLINE

A hardy Irish Traveller becomes increasingly concerned with his nine-year-old son’s femininity and sets about toughening him up.

 

SHORT

 

Set amongst the Irish Travelling community, BREATHE, questions to what extent a Father, living in a patriarchal society, is willing to go when the one who’s threatening his legacy and his reputation is his own son. PATRICK’s reluctance to accept his son, FRANCIE, for who and what he is (becoming) spirals out of control; pushing him too far, which results in a devastating consequence. Can Patrick bring about change in his son, or ultimately is he the one that needs to change?

 

LONG

 

BREATHE explores the themes of acceptance as we follow a Father’s transformation from being a resistant force succumbing to the expectations of a patriarchal society and the memory of his own violent Father to accepting his son for who he is.

The story firmly sets itself on the shoulders of PATRICK, struggling to come to terms with his son’s effeminate tendencies, as we’re thrown straight into his own conflict in the opening scene where he forces his son to fight a bigger boy in an attempt to toughen him up. But with the inevitable outcome of the fight, PATRICK struggles to deal with his own observations of his son’s femininity. So when FRANCIE is caught playing with his Mother’s lipstick, PATRICK is confronted by his suspicions and takes one final desperate attempt to ‘straighten’ out his son in the climax of the film, despite the detriment it brings to FRANCIE’s health.

As this is one man’s struggle back-dropped by the Travelling community it was important to ensure the story world was told as authentically as possible. Working with Traveller actors, Traveller’s Right groups and filming in Ireland has brought a raw aesthetic to the story, capturing the Travelling community in an accurate and respectful portrayal.

With Irish voters making history in the gay marriage referendum, and the recent approval in the USA, the acceptance of LGBT people has never been such a poignant and important subject matter. We hope this film will raise the acceptance of LGBT living within the Travelling community on both a national and international level.