Tuam babies film to get Irish cinema release next month

Catherine Corless with Monica Dolan who played Catherine in 'The Lost Children of Tuam'. Picture: Ray Ryan

A film depicting the story of the Tuam babies will get its Irish cinema release next month.

The Lost Children of Tuam, which is directed by Frank Berry and produced by Liam Neeson, won Best Irish Film at the Galway Film Fleadh in July.

The feature film follows historian Catherine Corless’s research that uncovered a mass grave of 796 children who died at a former mother and baby home between 1925 and 1961.

The children were born to mostly unmarried mothers and died in appalling conditions. They never received any burial records and were buried in a mass plot at the back of the home.

Galway woman Catherine Corless is portrayed by actress Monica Dolan in the film, while Andrew Bennett plays Catherine’s husband Aidan Corless.

The film will open in Irish cinemas on September 25 through Volta Pictures Distribution and in the UK in October.

It is supported by BBC Film and Fís Éireann/Screen Ireland in association with Coimisiún na Meán, RTÉ, Ireland's Port Pictures, and Dublin-based Element Pictures, among others.

Following an 11-year campaign, work got underway to begin excavating a 5,000sq m area in the centre of the former Dublin Road housing estate last summer, which was built after the religious run home was knocked.

To date, 99 children have been recovered from close to the memorial site where more children are buried in a septic tank.

Anna Corrigan, who discovered in 2012 that she had two brothers who died in the Tuam home, said the film is “deeply emotional” and that she was “delighted” with how the story was portrayed.

“It’s a really powerful film and it gets right to the heart of it all, it is a story that should be told and we will fight on until all of the babies are found,” she said.