Peter Mullan's 'The Magdalene Sisters' has won the Golden Lion award at the Venice Film Festival last night. The film, which attracted a lot of critical praise since its screening early in the festival, also attracted a lot of controversy when it was criticised by the Catholic church.
Based on a true story, 'The Magdalene Sisters' is the poignant account of the three young women sent to the infamous Irish laundries set up by the Catholic Church in the 19th century for ‘fallen women’ and run by nuns. The film is directed by Peter Mullan, the Scottish actor/director, whose previous film ‘Orphens’ was a critical success. Mullan also directed the short film ‘Fridge’ which won the Best European Short Film at Cork in 1997.
The film is produced by Ed Guiney (Disco Pigs), and was funded by Scottish Screen, Irish Film Board, and Britain's Film Council.
'The Magdalene Sisters' open the Cork International Film Festival next month.
