Arts Thread

Seventeen-year-old George Lacey does not fit in. She’s a weirdo amongst her conforming peers and a conformist amongst her weirdo family. Only the cows are kind to her. The real world calls to George. Tonight she answers. She goes to her first disco. She wears her first face of make-up. She steps into the real world for the first time. Her family does not let her go easy. George must come head to head with the world her family has taught her nothing about, the world that she hasn’t been taught to survive. Director's Statement, Regina de Faoite: The Lacey Way' gives voice to a subculture of families who do not want to fit into society’s rigid box. The Lacey world is Mammy’s perfectly crafted utopia, designed to protect herself and her wonderfully weird children from the unkindness of the real world. What has festered and grown in the shadowy corners of the Lacey freedom is a darker chaos, twisting out of control. A violent childhood, unpredictable and inconsistent, wrought with warped expectations and neglectful parenting. But worst of all, an ignorance, to another world. The real world. Out of sight, but ever present. Looming. Waiting for the Lacey children. Waiting to chew them up. George has always been fascinated by the real world. She has created her own image of it, a glittering, pulsating opportunity, a salvation from the Lacey world. She extends her hand, and touches it. The real world is not kind to beginners. It does not shield, it does not protect. Like the Lacey world, it has shadowy corners, whole segments that don’t bear talking about, guarded by rules. If you happen to be a girl with glittery eyelids and an inexhaustible softness, who hasn’t been given the rulebook, that shadow might just swallow you. I want to give voice to the George Laceys of the world. The real brave and vulnerable girls who are broken by the evil in our society. I wanted to give voice too to the Lacey siblings of the world, the struggle that they will face for the rest of their lives. Their struggle to cope, despite never being taught how. I aim to give a glimpse at the adults that will form from a Lacey childhood. Jude is a hopeful ending to the tragedy of the Lacey family. She finds a way to rise out of the fear that rules her parents’ and siblings’ lives. At the age of nine, she chooses life outside of Mammy’s reign, the future George dreamed of. The central themes of 'The Lacey Way' are Protection and Grief. Protection is what betrays George Lacey. She is over-protected until the very moment she needs protection most. 'The Lacey Way' explores grief in early childhood. Jude experiences the rollercoaster of grief in a dysfunctional family. The seismic shift between the first and second half of the film shows the weight and lifelong impact of Jude’s grief. My hope is that 'The Lacey Way' will give audiences an honest and uncomfortable look at the realities of a sheltered childhood and our society’s treatment of the vulnerable young people who emerge from one. Producer: Laura Devereux DOP: Adam Klug Editor: Benjamin Lipson Production Design: Grace O'Sullivan Composers: Peter Phelan and Joe Power