Behind-the-scenes tragedy led to women forming a special bond 

The Bright Side is a surprisingly humorous take on breast cancer that grew out of a difficult period for both the director and the writer involved. It shows at Cork International Film Festival 

Gemma-Leah Devereux in The Bright Side. 

Sometimes, when you try to run away from the worst, you find something that stops you in your tracks and reels you back into life. For Ruth Meehan, it was picking up her old friend Anne Gildea’s book while waiting to board a flight to India.

For the character the two created together after, it’s breast cancer. “When we meet Kate she’s kind of lost the will to live and through a cancer diagnosis, of all things, meets four women who make it really hard for her to want to die,” explains Meehan, director and co-writer of The Bright Side.