'Heartbreaking' film of single teen mum goes viral

A six-minute film depicting the life of a single mother in Irish society has had more than 650,000 views in less than 24 hours.

Heartbreak, which features a monologue written and performed by Irish poet and actor Emmet Kirwan stars teen-acting sensation Jordanne Jones, 16, as the single mother.

“It’s been seen 20,000 times on YouTube, 650,000 times on Facebook, and shared 12,000 times and it seems to be accelerating. We launched it at 6pm on Tuesday,” one of its producers, Dave Leahy, said yesterday afternoon.

The short film tells the story of a young woman’s journey from teenage pregnancy through to her 20s where she is raising her son as a single mother while trying to work and return to education.

All throughout the story, Kirwan’s monologue explains the social and political challenges she is experiencing.

Heartbreak was originally commissioned and developed by the theatre production company, ThisIsPopBaby.

When Dave Tynan, the short video’s director, saw Kirwan perform it, he wanted to bring its message to a wider audience.

He did this with the help of producers Mike Donnelly, Dave Leahy, and Liam Ryan.

They filmed the entire video over three days in December and edited it over the Christmas period.

“Dave [Tynan] wanted to bring something he saw to a wider audience. As a group we want to put important work out there that’s of value, bring it to a much larger audience and we feel we’ve succeeded,” Mr Leahy told the Irish Examiner.

“We’ve had some amazing feedback from single mothers.”

The short films deals with some of the prejudices levelled at young mothers in Irish society as well as sexism that women, in general, can encounter.

“I am not defined by the fact that I am some man’s daughter, sister, cousin, mother.

“I am a woman and I have agency just because I am breathing air, mother-fucker” is one line from the monologue.

The closing line, from the perspective of the woman’s son states: “I’ll treat and respect and help to create an Ireland that will stand in awe of all mná.”