A Lesson Unheard

A Lesson Unheard is the story of Shirley Hartman. Shirley lived as a boarded-out child in the Irish Midlands during the 1940s and 1950s, and survived the traumas of Castlepollard Mother & Baby Home in the early 1960s. The film makes important and striking connections between these two phases of Shirley's life, as her narration makes the consequences of other people's actions heartbreakingly clear. It combines Shirley's powerful and vivid storytelling, relayed to Dr Eleanor Lybeck across a series of interviews, with atmospheric impressions of the places where she grew up captured by filmmaker Monika Koeck.

Please note that the evening will start with a drinks reception before the screening begins at ca 6:30pm. The screening will then be followed by a panel discussion including Shirley Hartman, Dr Eleanor Lybeck, Monika Koeck, Dr Nathalie Sebbane (Sorbonne Nouvelle), and a representative of Fréa.

Dr Eleanor Lybeck is a senior lecturer in literature at the University of Liverpool, working between the Institute of Irish Studies and the Department of English. She is also a performer and theatre maker. In 2008, she founded the company Sidelong Glance to produce a wide and diverse range of research-led live performance and documentary film. Many of these projects have been concerned with questions of identity, equality, and social justice.

Monika Koeck began her artistic journey as a ballet dancer before moving into architecture and film. Her practice explores the relationship between the body, place and the moving image, with a particular interest in the poetics of space, memory and heritage. Working across art film, documentary, theatre and immersive media, she often approaches specific places through a poetic and collaborative lens, using film to reveal their atmosphere, stories and emotional landscapes. Her work has received fourteen national and international awards and has been presented at festivals, museums and cultural institutions worldwide, including La Biennale di Venezia, Fondazione MAXXI Rome, the Nobel Prize Museum and the Museum of the Future in Dubai.