Eva Birthistle’s acclaimed directorial debut ‘Kathleen is Here’ now screening in home town of Derry

Now local audiences have a chance to view the award-winning picture after it opened at the Brunswick Moviebowl in her home town on October 18.

Birthistle, who was born in Bray, Co. Wicklow, moved to Derry aged 14 in 1988. She was educated at Foyle College and spent her formative years in the city.

Her first outing as a director follows 18 year-old ‘Kathleen’, a young woman played by a rising star of Irish cinema Hazel Doupe.

Fresh out of foster care Kathleen returns to her hometown to take ownership of her deceased mother's house. She gets a job and even a friend; but the emptiness of Kathleen's life cannot be filled by social media and reality shows.

Alone and desperate for a mother figure, she sets out on a destructive path to find one.

Speaking about the film Birthistle said: “‘Kathleen Is Here’ has been a labour of love for the last 10 years. Thanks to my amazing cast and crew seeing it come to life is genuinely a dream come true.

“All I wanted was for an audience to be able to watch it on a big screen so I’m beyond thrilled.”

Birthistle has explained how the movie has been informed by the experiences of young people coming out of care in Derry, who she had been introduced to through her father Niall, a former chair of the Western Trust, who had been working with a charity providing support to care leavers.

“So I met with a group of young people in Derry going through that process and it was enlightening and informative and shocking...these were young people taking that next step, trying to find out: what next?” she told The Irish Times.

Best known as an actress, Eva’s notable film roles have included ‘Sunday’ in which she played Maura Young in Jimmy McGovern’s dramatization of the events of Bloody Sunday and her turn as ‘Eily Bergin’ in Neil Jordan’s celebrated adaptation of Pat McCabe’s novel ‘Breakfast On Pluto’ alongside Cillian Murphy.

She also appeared in Ken Loach’s 2004 romantic drama ‘Ae Fond Kiss...’ and in 2015’s ‘Brooklyn’.

Her career on the small screen began when she landed the part of ‘Regina Crosbie’ in Wesley Burrowes’ legendary drama ‘Glenroe’ in 1996 and continues today with her playing ‘Ursula Flynn’ one of Sharon Horgan’s ‘Bad Sisters’ in the eponymous Apple TV black comedy series.

Starring Hazel Doupe, Clare Dunne, Peter Coonan, Aaron Monaghan and Liadán Dunlea. ‘Kathleen Is Here’ is written and directed by Eva Birthistle and produced by Claire McCaughley for Treasure Entertainment with backing from Fís Éireann/Screen Ireland.

The feature length picture follows the short film ‘Kathleen Was Here’, also directed by Birthistle and starring Doupe, which was released in 2020.

As director Birthistle won the Bingham Ray New Talent Award at the Galway Film Fleadh this year.

‘Kathleen Is Here’ made the official selection in Galway and at the Raindance Film Festival that was held in London.

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