'Free' Film Screening and Information Night at Limerick City Gallery of Art

Free will be played in the Limerick City Gallery of Art Hub to allow people experience the film as many times as they like. The song Through a Child's Eye's, which was written especially for the film by Graham Mills, a talented Irish song writer and performed beautifully by his daughter Zita Mills, will be separately available to listen to. An official information night will take place on Thursday 7th March from 6pm - 7.30pm with a representative from Adapt speaking about supports and services available. There will be a testimony from a survivor of domestic abuse and a representative from the group discussing the background of the film and other new exciting upcoming projects.

The Road to Recovery group wrote, produced and shot the short film Free in 2018, which was officially launched on the 25th November 2018 in The Life Centre, Henry St. Limerick. This short film is set in the 1930's and 1950's and sends a powerful yet subtle message that people can break free from the cycle of domestic abuse. The Road to Recovery group is supported by Adapt and Limerick and Clare Education and Training Board. They wanted to show that with the right supports available anyone has the possibility to break ‘free’ from an abusive relationship.

A fundraising page has been created to coincide with the official launch of the second screening of Free. This page was launched to raise funds to enter as many local, national and international short film festivals that are appropriate to the subject content, so that the message of hope and the possibility of breaking ‘free’ from abusive relationships can be shared with as many people as possible.

The group have now been asked to create a stage drama about domestic abuse. This will act as a supportive piece to the film and will be in rehearsal alongside the ongoing promotion of the film on the short film festival circuit. No venues have been confirmed for the play as of yet, but they hope to be finished the script in the coming weeks.

Domestic abuse takes a number of forms: physical, verbal, emotional, psychological, financial and sexual. These forms of abuse can range from subtle, coercive forms to rape and violent physical abuse. As a group, the conscious decision was made not to show any physical violence in the film. Instead, we wanted to enable the audience to experience the subtlety of some of the forms of domestic abuse identified above and the devastating affects domestic abuse can have not only on the person being abused, but also on the children living in these unhealthy environments. The aim is to give people hope and the possibility that they can leave an abusive relationship with the appropriate help and support, and that you can get your life back and change it for the better.