The Embassy of Ireland recommends the multi-award winning Irish language film, The Quiet Girl (An Cailín Ciúin), which opened in Spanish cinemas on 24 February, with subtitles in Spanish.
The Quiet Girl has been nominated for an Oscar in the Best International Film category, the first time an Irish-language film has been nominated.
The film is an Irish-language adaptation of the acclaimed story Foster, written by Claire Keegan, which was first published in the New Yorker and declared “Best of the Year” by the magazine. The story was expanded and published as a stand-alone book in 2010. It was subsequently adapted into a film by writer-director Colm Bairéad.
Starring actress, Catherine Clinch, the film is set in rural Ireland in 1981. Cáit is a reserved nine-year-old girl who is neglected by her poor, dysfunctional and overly large family. She quietly copes with difficulties at school and at home, and has learned to go unnoticed by those around her. When summer comes and her mother’s due date approaches, Cáit is sent to live with distant relatives. Not knowing when she will return home, she stays in the home of strangers with nothing but the clothes on her back. Gradually, thanks to the care of the Kinsella family, Cáit makes remarkable progress and discovers a new way of life. But in this house where affection reigns and there seem to be no secrets, she discovers a painful truth.
