Director Frank Berry on bringing ‘The Lost Children of Tuam’ to the big screen

Mayo connections run deep for Frank Berry, director of The Lost Children of Tuam, whose powerful new film brings one of Ireland’s darkest chapters back into focus. With his mother from Castlebar and his father from Westport, Berry has strong family ties to the county as he tells the story of Tuam's mother-and-baby home and the determination of local historian Catherine Corless to uncover the truth about the children who died there.

Based on Corless’s painstaking research, the film explores the extraordinary efforts of an ordinary woman whose refusal to let the past remain buried helped bring a painful and long-overlooked history to national attention. For Frank Berry, bringing this story to the screen was both a profound responsibility and a privilege, with the experiences of survivors and their families central to the filmmaking process. In this interview with The Mayo News, he reflects on the importance of telling the story with honesty and sensitivity, his respect for Corless’s work, and why the legacy of Tuam continues to matter today.

Frank Berry – Director, The Lost Children of Tuam

1. What was it about Catherine Corless’s findings and the story of Tuam that made you feel that you wanted to be a part of this film?

I have enormous respect for Catherine and what she has achieved. The fact that she was an ordinary woman who, through her own curiosity and determination, uncovered something of such enormous importance really struck me. She refused to let the matter rest, even when it was difficult to get people to listen to her. There is something very powerful about her motivation, which was simply to find out the truth and do what was right.

2. When you first became involved with the project, what were your biggest concerns about telling such a sensitive and painful story on screen?

My biggest concern was making sure that we got it right. This is a story that means a lot to people, particularly the survivors and the families who have been affected. I didn't want to let them down, or Catherine down. I didn't want to make a film that sensationalised the subject or tried to manufacture emotion where the truth was already so powerful. The facts are moving enough in their own right, and I believed that if we approached them honestly and with restraint, the film would have its own emotional power. For me, the approach was always to trust the story and allow the truth to speak for itself.

3. This is based on real people and real events, many of whom are still alive or have living relatives. How did that affect the way you approached the production?

It affected everything, really. When I joined the project in 2021, the screenwriter Rebecca Lenkiewicz and I went to Tuam, where Catherine introduced us to survivors of the home. We maintained relationships with many of them throughout the production, and it was important to me that their lived experience informed the film at every stage. That meant having conversations during the development of the screenplay, throughout the shoot, and into post-production. Some of the survivors are in the film.

4. What do you hope people already familiar with the history will take from the film, and what do you hope people who know very little about it will understand?

For people who already know the history, I hope the film offers an opportunity to look at it again through Catherine's experience and to appreciate what she has done. Her work has encouraged us to confront a very difficult part of our past, and I think it's important that we appreciate what she has achieved.

For people who know very little about Tuam, I hope they come away with an understanding of what happened, but also of the importance of asking questions when something doesn't seem right. Catherine was curious about something in her own community, and that curiosity led her to uncover a terrible truth that had gone unaddressed for far too long. Although we are discussing Ireland’s past, this is a contemporary film. It's about accountability, about doing what's right and about recognising that the consequences of these events are still felt today. I hope it encourages people to listen to survivors, to acknowledge what happened and to understand why that matters.

5. Finally, after spending so many years with this story, what has stayed with you most strongly?

Making this film, we had to confront the past ourselves. Catherine said once, “We must face this”, and the entire process has had an impact on all of us who worked on the film. A remembrance of the children, an anger about what happened, and Catherine’s determination have stayed strongly with me. It's been an extraordinary privilege to work on this film, and it's a chapter of my life that I'm proud of. I hope we've made something that honours Catherine's work, respects the survivors, and helps ensure that this history is not forgotten.