REBEL WIFE - MARY JANE O'DONOVAN ROSSA DOC

~~~THANK YOU FOR SO MUCH SUPPORT SO QUICKLY! ANY DONATIONS WILL BE PUT SOLELY TOWARD THE FILM AND THE MANY FINISHING COSTS. OF COURSE, YOU WILL BE CREDITED. THANK YOU!~~~

The role of women in Irish history - in all history - is underrepresented. This documentary project will tell the story of Mary Jane Irwin O'Donovan Rossa of Clonakilty, West Cork. Nationalist, activist, poet, organizer, hero. She was the wife of Jeremiah O'Donovan Rossa, the famous Fenian prisoner and agitator whose funeral in 1915 sparked the Easter Rising which led to the establishment of the Republic of Ireland. But Mary Jane had more to do with the revolutionary Fenian movement, Rossa's release from prison and making the historic funeral a reality than has ever been acknowledged. While Rossa's funeral was a huge and widely reported event Mary Jane's death in the summer of 1916 was hardly noticed. While Rossa is buried in the Republican Plot at Glasnevin National Cemetery in Dublin, Mary Jane's grave in Staten Island, NY is largely forgotten. This short documentary will help change that.

Directed by Williams Rossa Cole, Mary Jane's great-grandson and the director of Rebel Rossa - a film that premiered at the Galway Film Fleadh 2016, broadcast on RTE One and is currently available on Amazon Prime - Rebel Wife: Mary Jane Irwin O'Donovan Rossa (working title), will raise Mary Jane's profile and acknowledge her significant accomplishments. 

Much of the material was filmed during the production of Rebel Rossa and so this film will be completed on a modest budget. Editing has already begun and the funds raised here will be used for: additional editing, sound mix, music licensing, color correction, festival submission and educational distribution strategy. 

Your support will help get this essential story out there and hopefully inspire more stories like it about largely forgotten women in history. Everyone that donates will be thanked and credited in the film. Like most documentary film efforts this is a labor of love fueled also by a strong belief that the story of women in history has long been erased, sidelined and unacknowledged. This project will do a little something to help that. Thank you sincerely!