By Jane Walsh
Irish Central
July 13, 2011
http://www.irishcentral.com/news/Documentary-on-the-Magdalene-Laundries-aired-for-the-first-time-on-Irish-TV---VIDEO-125438643.html
[with video]
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| Campaigners for the Magdalene Laundries meet with Minister for Justice |
The Irish language TV network, TG4, has aired the documentary "The Forgotten Maggies" for the first time on Irish television. The movie tells the heart wrenching stories from the lives of those women who survived the church-run Magdalene Laundries
"The Forgotten Maggies" was officially launched that the Galway Film Festival in 2009. It was aired also aired at the Cantor Film Center, in New York, where it met a standing ovation.
It was praised as a compelling, brave and honest piece of work. Subsequently to that, the Magdalene women who featured in the original documentary went on to meet officials at the Department of Justice in Ireland for the first time. This eventually set the ball rolling for everything else that followed in terms of their campaign and getting international recognition.
Since 2009 the documentary has been changed due to legal issues. Now it includes survivor's testimonies, from over seven Magdalene women and explores in depth the now infamous High Park exhumation where 155 Magdalene women were exhumed in 1993.
The documentary looks at shedding new light on the how and why innocent girls ended up in these institutions working against their will, some as young as 12-years-old. It challenges the Irish Government and questions the States role with regard these institutions.
“The Forgotten Maggies” is the only Irish made documentary on the subject matter and while people feel they know the stories of the Magdalene laundries nobody could be prepared for what these women have got to say and tell.
Each of these women were promised a better education and better employment opportunities. None of these women ever imagined they would be kept as prisoners, against their will, forced into slave labour, while the Religious Orders made a huge profit on the illegal work they carried out, all in the name of Charity. “The Forgotten Maggies” is a must see for anyone that wants to fully understand what these women have suffered and the role played by both Church and State.
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