Stolen

Stolen documents the Mother and Baby Homes scandal that ricocheted around the world and sparked a government inquiry into the fate of unmarried women who fell pregnant in 20th century Ireland. 

The discovery that 796 babies had died without burial records in the Tuam Mother and Baby Home, County Galway, Ireland, was followed by evidence of their interment in a sewage works below a playground. The find sparked global outrage, and more shocking discoveries of cruelty and abuse in institutions run by nuns from 1922 to 1998 emerged. 9,000 infants died in these institutions; a mortality rate that, on occasion, was five times the national average. Mothers and children underwent forced separations, adoptions and were used as cheap labour. In Stolen, survivors – including mothers and witnesses – speak out.

There will be a pre-recorded Q&A after this screening with acclaimed director Margo Harkin of Besom Productions. In 2020 – the same year that Margo was elected a member of prestigious Irish arts academy Aosdána – her titles Hush-A-Bye Baby and Waveriders were named among the Irish Times’ 50 Best Irish Films Ever.  

This special screening of Stolen has been organised as a commemorative event by Renewing Roots, with funding from the Government of Ireland (DCEDIY Commemorative Grant Scheme). It is presented in collaboration with the Irish Film Institute’s IFI International programme supported by Culture Ireland. This is a free event, open to the public. Please book your tickets to secure your place.

Part of Fréa, a partnership of Irish charities, Renewing Roots offers free, confidential support for former residents of Ireland’s Mother and Baby and County Home institutions now living in the North of England. For more information: frea.org.uk