Liath Hannon: Happy to bring trans representation to Irish screens
Adam Lunnon-Collery and Liath Hannon in Girls & Boys.
Two people form a connection over the course of one memorable night in Girls & Boys, writer-director Donncha Gilmore’s new Irish feature.
Set over a night out in Dublin, rugby player Jace meets an aspiring filmmaker, Charlie, at a student party. They’re both Trinity students but come from different worlds - Charlie is trans and many of her friends are queer, while Jace’s friends are mostly straight men from sport and college life. Regardless of their differences they click in a movie awarded Best Independent Irish Film at this year’s Galway Film Fleadh.
For Liath Hannon, who plays Charlie, offered the opportunity to be involved in what she saw as a very special story. “I read the script and it reminded me of she says. “It reminded me of It reminded me of all these beautiful films about two people who have a chance encounter and are forever changed by meeting each other.
“That, I've always loved, and it also happened to be written for someone of my experience. I think it's so rare to get the opportunity to find something like that.”
Set over the course of one night in Dublin, the movie offers a different perspective of the capital - one that the filmmakers and actors contributed to through the use of footage shot on classic Super 8 cameras.
“We shot it in January 2024, and a lot of the locations that we ended up using were not the ones that we originally had in the script,” says Hannon. “We were able to shoot that beautiful Samuel Beckett bridge with lights that come on at night. We got to use Henrietta Street, a Georgian house and a place that I remember when I was in college - people used to throw murder-mystery parties there. So it was really steeped in nostalgia and felt true to Dublin and true to the college experience.
“After the filming wrapped, myself, Donncha and Adam (Lunnon-Collery) our co-star, we would go around town with the Super 8 camera and film each other - at the pub, eating chips outside, and we spliced in the footage.”
From early on, the filmmakers and cast were keen not to make a social-message film. It just happened to be, says Hannon, that the character was trans, and that affected the story of the relationship between the two characters. Still, as a trans actor, Hannon is bringing representation to our screens. What would it have meant to younger her to have seen a film like this one?
“It would have meant so much just as a possibility model in terms of what I could do, I think. Because especially when I was in my teens, it [acting] was something that I had a huge ambition to do, but I very much got it in my head that auditioning for drama schools was not something that was possible for me if I wasn’t concealing my identity, which I didn't really want to do. So I think it really would have freed me up. I don't know if my younger self would really believe that I've gotten to this point and been able to do this, but I know she'd be insanely proud of me.”
Since she was young, Hannon was in love with the movies, finding the films of Hollywood icons like Betty Davis, Joan Crawford and Jane Fonda. While enjoying a successful modelling career, she also studied at Irish screen acting academy Bow Street [formerly The Factory] where past pupils included Barry Keoghan, Niamh Algar and Jack Reynor. She was encouraged, she says, by the fact that senior students at her secondary school pursued acting careers.
“I went to a really progressive school, and most of the people from the year above me ended up becoming actors. It was something I think that I really had to give myself permission to do.”
It helps, she says, that the Irish film and TV industry is going through a particularly vibrant time. Irish actors have routinely featured in shortlists across several prestigious awards - up to and including the Oscars - in recent years, while actors generating early buzz for new releases this autumn include Éanna Hardwicke ( ) Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal ( ) and Cillian Murphy ( ).
Hannon has also been impressed by the Cork film that is making waves internationally. It’s another success that allows the next generation to dream big, she feels.
“I suppose in so many ways, we've all been raised by films and television in a way that previous generations haven't had. It's also more accessible to us. We've lived through some really interesting social, cultural, economic shifts, like the marriage referendum and the abortion referendum, and we've really seen the fabric of our society change so exponentially, in such a short time.”
Hannon is about to begin preparations for her next project - her play which comes to Dublin’s Smock Alley Theatre in November. Meanwhile, she’s encouraged by the audience response to so far. “I think the beautiful message of it is breaking down our own self-imposed boundaries and self-imposed limitations. I think there's so much hope in it. There's so much love and life in it.”
- opens in cinemas on Friday, September 19
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