SMALL THINGS LIKE THESE [SOLD OUT]

It is 1985 in the run-up to Christmas in a small town in County Wexford, Ireland. Bill Furlong (Oscar winner Cillian Murphy, Oppenheimer) toils as a coal merchant to support himself, his wife and his five daughters. Early one morning while out delivering coal to the local convent, he makes a disturbing discovery that forces him to confront his past and the complicit silence of a town controlled by the Catholic Church. Based on the best-selling novel of the same name by Claire Keegan, the film reveals deeply buried secrets about Ireland’s Magdalene laundries – horrific asylums run by Roman Catholic institutions from the 1820s until 1996, ostensibly to reform “fallen young women.” SMALL THINGS LIKE THESE premiered at the Berlin Film Festival where Emily Watson, who stars as the convent’s corrupt Mother superior, received the Silver Bear award for Best Supporting Actress.  Q & A with director Tim Mieants following screening.