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Film: Horrible Creature by Áine Stapleton

16 Jun 2019 (Past)

Irish Film Institute


Horrible Creature by Áine Stapleton at the Irish Film Institute.

The screening will be followed by a Q&A with director Áine Stapleton, hosted by Dr. Aoife McGrath (QUB).

In 1915, James Joyce and Nora Barnacle travelled with their young children Giorgio and Lucia to Switzerland to escape the turmoil of World War I. Lucia later trained as a dancer and performed throughout Europe. Her career ended when, in the early 1930s, she was forced into psychiatric care and underwent treatment at various hospitals across Europe.

Horrible Creature is the second in a proposed trilogy of films directed by Áine Stapleton (dance and film artist) and is filmed at locations in Switzerland where Lucia spent time. The first, Medicated Milk, challenged the accepted biography of Lucia’s life and considered the complexity of mental instability.

Here, Lucia’s own writing, interpreted by a cast of international dance artists, conjures her world between 1915 and 1950. The film fearlessly explores her difficult family life, her unproven illness, and her undoubted talent.

Notes by Sunniva O’Flynn (IFI)

Director and producer: Áine Stapleton
Director of Photography: Will Humphris
Cast: Michelle Boulé, Céline Larrère, Sarah Ryan, Áine Stapleton
Voiceover: Rebecca Warner
Soundscore: David Best and Ed Chivers
Editor: José Miguel Jimenez

The film is kindly supported by the Arts Council of Ireland, The Irish Embassy in Bern Switzerland, Arts & Disability Ireland, The Ticino Film Commission, Dance Ireland, The James Joyce Centre Dublin, and Fringe Lab at Dublin Fringe. Horrible Creature was developed through the Arts Council’s Arts and Disability Connect scheme, managed by Arts & Disability Ireland.


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