The Wedding - Short Film
"After trauma the world becomes sharply divided between those who know and those who don’t. People who have not shared the traumatic experience cannot be trusted, because they can’t understand it.”
- Bessel Van Der Kolk, The Body Keeps the Score
Lauren has friends, and family, and a life; she knows she does. But she can’t quite seem to reach them. Something’s happened, and she can’t quite say; she keeps trying to push through, but the more she tries to move forward the more she gets stuck in the past.
The Wedding is about how hard it can be to find your voice when everyone believes one truth and you know another. It’s about isolation, and connectivity; about what matters, and what holds us back. It is a story of resilience, of being loved and being lost.
Key issues of the film include: Dissociation • Abuse • PTSD • Isolation • Eating disorders • Depression • Re-integration
Our goal is to give voice to these issues; to spark conversation and compassion; to shine a light on the way we listen to our friends, to what they do and do not say. This is a story worthy of support. In order to convey it with authenticity and respect, we need your help. We have now wrapped, and are seeking to raise funds to cover both production and post-production. In order to compensate those who have worked so hard on this project, and deliver a film of industry (and festival) standard, we are seeking to raise €15K!
We teamed up with Dublin-based designer Aidan Lynch who has created the poster below especially for our film:
After reading the script forThe Wedding, founder of The Shona Project, an organization empowering women and girls to find their voice and identity, Tammy Darcy writes:
“We see so many girls and young women struggle to find their place in the world. We are bombarded with a multitude of messages every day telling us who and what we should be, setting an impossibly high standard. Trying to find validation, we shape ourselves into a version of what we believe others expect of us.
Wouldn’t the world be a beautiful place if us girls celebrated and encouraged each other, instead of judging and pushing away those who we don’t fully understand or identify with? Life can be tough, but if we build strong communities of women supporting women, we can all not just survive, but thrive.
The Wedding deserves support, for all these reasons.”
For Beth Dalbey at Patch, bullying is
"most common among middle class girls among whom a high value is placed on being 'nice' and non-aggressive.”
And that’s only the beginning; when bullying becomes the norm, it’s easier to start accepting being treated less-than on other levels. According to The National Domestic Violence Hotline,
"43% of dating college women report experiencing violent and abusive dating behaviors including physical, sexual, tech, verbal or controlling abuse.”
That’s just the ones that report. Many never do; many women never admit it to themselves, let alone their friends or family. It is shockingly common, and rarely talked about; as hard as it is to consider, the stats do say that if it doesn’t pertain to you, it does pertain to someone you know.
"There is always a risk of perpetuating the trauma (...) of re-traumatizing by bringing up the same dark things. But by conscientiously engaging with the things you’ve feared and struggled with in your past, there is an avenue to move through it to the other side. It is absolutely empowering, first internally but then hopefully externally too."
- Fiona Stout, Writer/Director/Co-Producer, The Wedding
Please help us share this story.
The Women of The Wedding
Fiona Stout – Writer/Director
Fiona graduated the LIR in 2017 with a BA in acting and has been making her own work since. JESSICA, her second play, premiered in 2019; SPLIT, her first play, was featured in NewVember in 2018. She last worked as an actor with Game Theory in MOOP for Dublin Fringe 2019, with David Prendeville on Sins of a Werewolf, and with 2L films on the 2021 short My Place. This is her first short, and she can't wait to do more!
Eilish McLaughlin - Lauren
Eilish graduated from The Lir Academy in 2019 as a classically trained actress. Before shooting "The Wedding," she played Desdemona in The Mill's production of Othello in 2021.
Anna Clifford - Zara
Anna Clifford is an Actor and Comedian from Dublin. Anna graduated from The Gaiety School of Acting with a diploma in Acting. Some of her credits include RTE's Finding Joy, Titanic Blood and Steel and RTE's Fair City. Anna also regularly gigs in both the UK and Ireland most recently selling out at Vicar St. She is currently writing a new stand up hour which will be touring in 2022.
Aoife Fitzpatrick – Liz
Aoife Fitzpatrick is an actress from Malahide, County Dublin and a recent graduate from the Gaiety School of Acting. She was recently in the BBC series Dublin Murders by Element productions.
Lisa Frisby - Jaz
Lisa Frisby trained at Mountview in London and is a recent graduate of Bow Street. Recent credits include One Last More directed by Martha Lovett Cullen, a Three mobile ad campaign directed by Henrik Knusden, and music video Wage a War by Dee Fitzgerald directed by Johnny Malin.
Amy Roisin Eddisford Kidd - Annette
Amy Kidd is an actor and writer who trained at The Lir. Recent credits include Mary in Maryland (The Lantern Rep), Beatrice in Inferno21 (Verdant/The Lyric, Belfast), and Sweetheart in But You Stopped Their Hearts (dir. Ronan Leahy).
Katya Solomatina - Costume & Set Dressing
Ekaterina Solomatina is also a graduate of The Lir, 2018. Previous work includes David Prendeville’s Sins of a Werewolf and Juanita Wilson's Happyish. Ever multidisciplinary, Katya currently has an exhibit on at the Flax Project Space in Belfast, as well as a piece in the Royal Ulster Academy of Art as part of a contemporary art show.
Here are some articles that have featured The Wedding and our journey:
https://www.her.ie/entertainment/wedding-film-interview-499588
https://wft.ie/wft-members-developing-short-film-the-wedding/
http://filmireland.net/2020/02/19/in-production-the-wedding/
Check out these organizations to learn more about resources, empowerment, and support:
Ireland-Based:
https://shona.ie/about/ - An organization dedicated to empowering women and girls to find their voice and identity.
https://www.communityfoundation.ie/impacts/women-girls - Empowering women in Ireland for a more equitable society.
https://www.womensaid.ie/services/helpline.html - Domestic violence and abuse helpline, network, and support resources.
https://www.safeireland.ie/get-help/where-to-find-help/ - Domestic violence and abuse list of local helplines.
https://www.bodywhys.ie/ - Eating Disorders helpline, networks, and support resources.
U.K.-Based:
https://www.womensaid.org.uk/information-support/ - Domestic violence and abuse helpline, network, and support resources.
https://www.beateatingdisorders.org.uk/ - Eating Disorders helpline, networks, and support resources.
U.S.-Based:
https://www.thehotline.org/get-help/ - US-based domestic violence and abuse helpline, network, and support resources.
https://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/help-support/contact-helpline - Eating Disorders helpline, networks, and support resources.
To help shed light on the topics explored in this short film take a look at these articles for statistics, data, and other helpful information:
https://www2.hse.ie/wellbeing/mental-health/domestic-violence-and-abuse.html - Understanding Domestic Violence and Abuse
https://www.hse.ie/eng/about/who/cspd/ncps/mental-health/eating-disorders/ - Understanding Eating Disorders
https://www.womensaid.ie/about/policy/natintstats.html - Ireland, EU, and International Domestic Violence and Abuse Statistics
https://www.thehotline.org/resources/statistics/ - US Domestic Violence Statistics
https://www.pacer.org/bullying/resources/stats.asp - US Bullying Statistics
https://patch.com/us/across-america/girl-girl-bullying-why-it-s-different-difficult-confront - Girl-to-Girl Bullying
Thank you for your consideration.