Veni. Vidi. Vici. Venice

FROM dark drama to leading lights, Eileen Walsh is one of a handful of talented Irish actors hoping to make her mark at the Venice Film Festival.

The 27-year-old from Turner’s Cross in Cork is starring alongside Galwegian Nora Jane Noone, Dorothy Duffy from Co Donegal and Anne Marie Duff, of Irish descent, in the movie, The Magdalene Sisters.

Based on true events, the film tells the harrowing tale of the lives of four young girls thrown on the mercy of the nuns who ran the Magdalene asylums or laundries.

Eileen’s plays Crispina, a 20-year-old with the mental age of ten who was abandoned to the sisters when she became pregnant outside marriage.

“There were some difficult scenes for me, my character is abused by the local parish priest and there is some nudity, but the director, Peter Mullan, handled it all very tastefully, so I don’t think it will offend anyone and my parents are well prepared,” said Eileen.

The film was due to compete at the Cannes Film Festival, but restrictions on the number of British entries meant The Magdalene Sisters missed out.

Instead, it will compete against nine other movies at the Venice festival.

“This is my first time playing a part in a movie that has been entered in a film festival competition, so it is very exciting. It’s nice to get the chance to do some heavy work and hopefully it will pay off for all of us.”

Not that Eileen is any stranger to film festivals. She has previously been to Cannes, rubbing shoulders with the likes of Ewan McGregor on board the Soho houseboat. Unfortunately, she won’t make it to Venice. “I am currently rehearsing for Drowned World, which will play in the Treverse Theatre in Edinburgh, and after that, it’s on to the Abbey for Aerial 7.”