alana daly mulligan
a queer comedy of errors celebrating young love and an ancient language.
Scéal le Alana Daly Mulligan & Luke K. Murphy
As their Debs application deadline approaches, a closeted couple must sort their domestic issues as Gaeilge to prevent their classmates from knowing they’re an item. However, translation issues leave their relationship in jeopardy.
Funded in part through the Bank of Ireland Begin Together Arts Fund in Partnership with Business to Arts.
Additional support from Munster Technological University & Cork City Libraries.
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Our Scéal
On a rather rainy Saturday morning in January 2022, Alana Daly Mulligan was set up on a writing blind date with Luke Murphy.
Luke wanted to write a story that was an ode to school life. Alana wanted to write a very gay love story, not at all imagining a story set in an educational environment. Working through a number of themes like young love, miscommunication and heartbreak, they reminisced on their school days and got to know one another. Then, almost by accident, stumbled upon anecdotes of experiences learning Irish, complete with eccentric-teacher characters, and overall not having a bawdy of what was going on. From here, a project called Homofónia was born.
With a Debs application deadline approaching, a closeted couple must decide if they're out or in as Gaeilge to prevent their classmates from knowing they’re an item. However, translation issues leave their relationship in jeopardy. For the writing duo, Homofónia is a rom-com for a young Irish audience and anyone who’s survived a Leaving Certificate Irish class. This classic comedy of errors story stemming from bilingual miscommunication, is a queer story about the quirks of a qwear language.
Our Mission
The short explores the theme of modern love and identity being expressed through our mother tongue. The suspense is then drawn to the couple’s relationship problems and the audience’s desire for them to be together. From a very early stage, Alana and Luke knew they wanted the film to mean more to people than something to watch on YouTube. They saw the project holistic, representing alternative stories fit for a classroom setting. They played with the idea of Irish as a secret language and by proxy, a queer language which ultimately allows our two protagonists to connect with each other.
Alana and Luke aim to take the short to the film festival circuit before releasing it as part of an educational pack that aims to start conversations around gender, sexuality, identity, prejudice and justice.
Ultimately, the team are striving to provide positive examples for young people in Ireland of how queer stories can play out and give teachers a framework to teach tolerance.
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Our Cast
Our Crew
We knew when embarking on this project we wanted to assemble a team that could tell our story with empathy and a unique view of the world.
We enlisted some of the most exciting creatives working in Ireland right now
to make our vision come true.
