Philomena
- Screening Dates: 8th May, 8 pm // 15th May, 6 pm
- Starring: Judi Dench, Steve Coogan, Neve Gachev, Charlie Murphy, Simone Lahbib, Sophie Kennedy Clark, Charles Edwards, Xavier Atkins
- Directed by: Stephen Frears ('Tamara Drewe', 'The Queen', 'Dirty Pretty Things')
- Running time: 94 minutes
- Rating: (M) Offensive language and sexual references
- Language: English
These two unlikely companions are on a journey to find her long lost son.
Judi Dench leads this UK drama directed by Stephen Frears (The Queen), the true story of a single mother in search for her adult son, separated after a Christian community forced them apart decades ago. Co-starring and co-written by Steve Coogan, adapting the book The Lost Child of Philomena Lee by Martin Sixsmith.
Falling pregnant as a teenager in Ireland in 1952, Philomena Lee (Dench) was sent to the convent of Roscrea to be looked after as a “fallen woman”. When her baby was only a toddler, he was whisked away by the nuns to America for adoption. Philomena spent the next 50 years searching for him in vain. Then she met Martin Sixsmith (Coogan), a world-weary BBC journalist as cynical as Philomena was trusting. Together they set off for America, forging a bond themselves, to try and find Philomena’s son.