EILE Magazine Sept/Oct 2018 (Vol.5, issue 11)

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Magazine V 5 Issue 11 - Sept/Oct 2018

STF Jared Dylan

Tonie Walsh

Interview by Scott De BuitlĂŠir

Mental Health & I Stephen Spillane

Inside:

Travel | Film | Fashion |Health | News

EILE Magazine | Who’s Who

Contributors

M. Butler M. Butler is a writer and editor, with a keen interest in human and civil rights, and has studied philosophy and psychology Scott De Buitléir Scott is founder and Editor-at-Large of EILE Magazine. He is also an author and poet from Dublin, but is now based in Cork Lisa Reynolds Originally from Co. Meath, Lisa is a fashion industry student, now living in Bray, Co. Wicklow, with a great interest in music, media and celebrity Brian Rochford Brian has studied health, exercise, and nutrition, with a special interest in controlling pain in rheumatism and arthritis Brian Rochford also writes our fashion column this month Stephen Spillane Stephen was born and raised in Cork city, has been a political and community activist over the years, and is a member of Cork LGBT choir, Choral Con Fusion.

He is also an active member of his local Church of Ireland community Frances Winston Frances Winston is EILE’s resident film buff, and has contributed to many other publications, such as The Irish Independent and Irish Tatler. She is also a playwright and actor in her own right

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EILE Magazine | Welcome

Highlights Sept/Oct 2018 I AM TONIE WALSH - P.18 Scott De Buitléir interviews the iconic gay rights activist about his forthcoming show at the Project Arts Centre, Dublin

Mental Health & I - P.26 Stephen Spillane writes about how to deal with stress and anxiety, and know that it happens to everyone

Health - P.32 Brian Rochford tells us how to look after body and mind during the cold weather, and beyond

Music - Pps. 6,10, 28 and 36 Our music section features US-based STF, and Irish-based American, Jared Dylan, among others

Volume 5, Issue 11 Editor-at-Large: Scott De Buitléir Editor: MKB Contributors: M. Butler, Scott De Buitléir, MKB, Lisa Reynolds, Brian Rochford, Stephen Spillane, Frances Winston Photographers: Andre LaDon, Ste NB: All images in this publication are either under Creative Commons licence, or used with permission. Image credits, where necessary, are printed on the corresponding page(s) or photo(s). Any queries can be made to hello@eile.ie Special Thanks to MKB for all her hard work, dedication and support.

Web: http://eile.ie Contact: hello@eile.ie Twitter: @EILEMagazine Facebook: http://fb.com/eilemagazine Note: All opinions expressed in this issue are the writers’ own.

Fashion - P.14 and review P.62 Brian Rochford writes about cold weather fashion for men, and Lisa Reynolds reviews The T Word documentary

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…plus film reviews, news, travel, and much more!

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EILE Magazine | Editor’s Letter

Contents 6-

STF

10 -

Jared Dylan

14 -

Men’s Fashion

18 -

Tonie Walsh Interview

24 -

Legally Blonde

26 -

Mental Health & I

28 -

MIKA

32 -

Health

36 -

Japanese Popstars

38 -

Cloud Study (Dance)

40 -

Castro’s History

44 -

Ire Trans Failure

48 -

Travel India

50 -

Travel US

52 -

Film with Frances

62 -

The T Word Review

66 -

Art Source RDS

plus

EILE Sept/Oct 2018 Edition!

Welcome to the September/ October 2018 issue of EILE Magazine This jam-packed edition sees some great musical artistes gracing our pages, like STF, Jared Dylan, MIKA and the NI’s Japanese Popstars.

We also have an interview with longtime LGBT and civil rights activist, Tonie Walsh, about his upcoming show, I AM TONIE WALSH, and Stephen Spillane raises awareness on how to preserve your mental health. Also Happy Birthday to Club GASS in Galway, who celebrate their 3rd birthday in November.

Frances Winston reviews 5 great films, and Lisa Reynolds reviews the Laverne Cox documentary, The T Word. Our health article,

by Brian Rochford, reminds us that exercise keeps the brain healthy, and he also writes on men’s fashion for the cold weather. Our Travel section features India and the US, and we also feature art at the RDS, dance, and theatre.

World LGBT News, Views, Arts, Entertainment etc

With lots more news, views and entertainment inside, just relax and enjoy this Sept/Oct 2018 edition of EILE Magazine!

Scott De Buitléir Founder / Editor-at-Large

EILE Magazine EILE Magazine

See our film reviews

by Frances Winston

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STF This issue, we feature the very versatile dance/pop, rock, neo-soul, and electro-funk LA-based artist, STF (pronounced ‘Stef’) who has just released his latest amazing single, Lookalike. Breathy at first, then underpinned by subtle beats, Lookalike becomes a danceable track outlining the shock you get when you realise your ex has replaced you with another version of - You! The rich, controlled vocal, over an initially pared-back instrumental, and ballad-like lyric, all set up the atmosphere for the track, keeping you listening, and wanting more. Citing Prince and Michael Jackson as his main influences, STF brings an originality and freshness to the fusion of genres, and his performance is that of one born to the craft. About the single, STF says the theme of the song is something that actually happened to him: “After my last relationship ended, I went to my ex’s Facebook page and found out that she was already dating somebody new, and this guy was basically my doppelganger — same haircut, same facial hair and style....”

Having spent some time opening for incredible acts like Jojo, Brian McKnight, Anderson.

Paak, and touring with Jack&Jack as part of their band, STF (aka Stefan Poole) wanted to be a frontman again, singing his own songs, and that led to his latest single, Lookalike, which highlights his impeccable vocals and skilled songwriting - pure pop perfection. The energetically-charged single touches on what it feels like when your ex-partner begins dating your doppelgänger.

“Congratulations,” he sings in his sultry tenor, “You found a knock-off of me, wasting all your love on a lookalike.”

“This actually happened to me”, the LA-based singer, songwriter, and musician says.

"And I thought: ‘You couldn’t have me, so you found the closest thing’. Writing helps me emotionally vent in a safe environment, so of course I wrote a song about it.”

Honesty is a signature asset in Poole’s songwriting arsenal, though sometimes the songs are more frisky.

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Her Boyish Looks is about “falling for hot, androgynous dancer girls in North Hollywood”, Poole says with a laugh.

“That actually happened to me as well”.

Whether heartfelt or playful, the songs come alive, thanks to Poole’s considerable musical talents. He sets his stories against a backdrop of gleaming dance-pop, studded with flashes of rock, neo-soul, and electro-funk.

“For me, it’s all about the groove”, says Stefan, who records under the moniker, STF. “Michael Jackson and Prince are my two biggest influences. I like pop music as long as it makes me move. I have to feel it all the way down in my core.”

Releasing his first original music is a thrilling moment that STF has anticipated ever since he began pursuing music as a career, right after high school. The son of an American entrepreneur father and Italian fashiondesigner mother, he is a dual Italian-American citizen, who was raised between Tucson, Arizona, and Milan, Italy.

“Italian was actually my first language, so I struggled a lot in school in Arizona”, he says.

“I had an accent, was between languages, and was just very awkward.”

His love for music came from his dad, a classic rock fan, who put a guitar in young Stefan’s hands at age 13. STF also studied piano, violin, and drums, “which I loved, but playing drums meant always playing other people’s songs and I wanted to be part of the creative process”.

He stuck with guitar, began singing and writing songs at 17, and, after graduating from high school, moved to Los Angeles to attend Musicians’ Institute, where he formed a funkpop band that made the rounds of Hollywood clubs like The Roxy, and House of Blues on Sunset.

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He got his first professional break when he was cast as a musician on the hit FOX series, Glee.

In between seasons, he went back to Italy to appear on a talent show called Amici, which he describes as a cross between American Idol and Big Brother.

For the six weeks the show was on the air, STF was a star.

“I would walk down the street and get mobbed by people wanting to take pictures”, he recalls.

“I’d pass by the newsstand and my face was on magazine covers. It felt like a dream. One moment nobody knew me, the next moment the whole country knew me. Then it all stopped when the next season started because there was a new cast”.

The fleeting fame messed with STF’s head.

“I was always focused on the music, so to have people talking about me for something other than that, and then to have it go away so fast, it was hard”, he says. “It was also bad timing because I didn’t have any music ready while the show was airing, so I didn’t capitalize on the moment”.

In fact, STF had recorded a bilingual album for Sony that wound up being shelved. He decided to move back to LA and rejoin the cast of Glee, but other setbacks followed, including a deal with an indie label that didn’t pan out, a painful break-up, and health issues.

“At that point, I didn’t have the energy to make original music”, he says. “But I needed to pay my bills and I wanted to do it through music”.

So he became a touring musician, hitting the road with singer-songwriter, Bridget Mendler, Andy Grammer, and Jack & Jack, with whom he toured the US this summer.

“My motivation and inspiration slowly began coming back”, he says. “Now I feel like I’m a bit wiser, a bit more experienced, and less naïve".

STF in pensive mood Image: Andre LaDon

“I’ve come to know myself more and have realized that as much as I love being on tour and playing for other artists, there’s still that itch of wanting to be a front man who sings my own songs. It’s like an addiction - that connection I’ve experienced between myself and the audience - when they’re in the palm of my hand and we go on a ride together. There is no better feeling. I just want the audience to be able to experience the same joy”.

Produced by Duddy Brown, STF’s new single, Lookalike, really has the blend of electronic and pop down, and needs to be listened to, maybe late at night when you’re thinking of your own

past loves, and wondering who replaced you in their lives. Enjoy!

-MKB The track is set for release on Friday, November 2nd, so don’t miss it!

You can catch up with STF on: https://www.facebook.com/stfsings/ https://twitter.com/stfsings Photographer: Andre LaDon

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Jared Dylan 10 EILE Magazine

The world premiere of American-born and raised, but Irishbased, singer-songwriter, Jared Dylan's animated short film, Consequence, plus great soundtrack, was presented on Friday 19th October at Tower Records, by Aiken Promotions, featuring the energetic, upbeat single, Can’t Stop (John Gibbons remix) and a soundtrack of new Jared Dylan music.

Jared, the New Jersey native who moved to Ireland this year, and who is probably best-known for this appearance on NBC’s The Voice, also gave a live performance with JAMES WALSH & RYAN O’SHAUGHNESSY on 20th October, at East Side Tavern, in Dublin.

His film, Consequence is a cross-over between Jared Dylan and pulp fiction graphic novel, The Beach Chronicles – a popular underground animated comic-book and podcast series, based out of South Beach Miami (think Blade Runner meets Miami Vice!).

It features voiceovers by Jared Dylan, KT Tunstall, Donovan, Kenney Jones (The Who, The Faces), Rami Jaffee (Foo Fighters), Ran Pink, Paddy Casey, Jimmy Jean Louis (Heroes [NBC], Claws [TNT]), James Walsh (Starsailor), Ky-Mani Marley, Neville Staple (The Specials), KemoThe Blaxican (Delinquent Habits) and more… Soundtrack and score by Jared Dylan.

In Consequence, Jared’s alter-ego and anti-hero, Kid Dylan, battles with an internal conflict of good vs evil; questioning authority and rule, as he sets out on a series of James Bond-like missions, seeking hidden clues to lost treasures, and the truth about his missing parents.

Along the way Kid Dylan must fight, drive, and fly his way to truth and true love.

Like the animated films, Yellow Submarine and Heavy Metal, Consequence takes us through a musical odyssey, where our hero, or better yet anti-hero, Kid Dylan, the alter-ego of musician, Jared Dylan, grapples with love, life, loss, and adventure, as he finds himself on a journey to find a lost artifact, and himself.

Kid Dylan enters the world of the underground cult-hit, The Beach Chronicles, with a voyage that takes us through a melodic discovery of the wide range of musical tastes, Jared Dylan offers in his concept album, Consequence.

Aiken Promotions also presented a movie and soundtrack Release Party, with live performancees by Jared Dylan, James Walsh, and Ryan O’Shaughnessy at East Side Tavern, Dublin, on Saturday, 20 October 2018.

The track Can’t Stop (John Gibbons) remix is the first single off the Consequence soundtrack, and has already generated over 300,000 Spotify streams, and 170,00 YouTube views of the lyric video.

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The soundtrack and score are by Jared Dylan.

Jared kicked off a 20+ date, three-month tour of Ireland, including a full run supporting EuroVision star, Ryan O’Saughnessy, plus dates with Paddy Casey, Ryan Sheridan and The 4 Of Us, as well as a handful of his own headlining dates.

While in the Republic of Ireland, Jared continues his work with Zinc Media (Bob Geldof’s documentary production company) and award-winning, Irish director, Kilian Pettit (RedFM presenter) on a new musicbased series called Experiencing Music, where the crew follows Jared around different countries, learning from and collaborating with successful songwriters from each territory, starting in Ireland.

The current production already includes conversations with and/or in studio collaborations with Bob Geldof, Christy Dignam (Aslan), Donovan, James Walsh (Starsailor), Paddy Casey, and Stephanie Rainey, with more top name Irish songwriters lined up to join the production this fall.

Legendary Celtic artist, Jim Fitzpatrick, has also signed on as art director, creating original art for the production.

Some dates still left on Jared's Irish tour are: Ryan O’Shaughnessy w Special Guest Jared Dylan Fri Nov 9 Arc Venue, Cork Sat Nov 24 Garbo’s, Castlebar Co. Mayo Fri Nov 30 Alley Theatre, Co. Tyrone Sat Dec 15 Cultúrlann Sweeney, Kilkee Co. Clare

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The Four of Us w Special Guest Jared Dylan Fri Dec 21 Spirit Store Drogheda Sat Dec 22 Dolans Warehouse Limerick

If you would like more information about Jared Dylan, go to: Twitter: https://twitter.com/ jdylanmusic Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ jdylanmusic www.jareddylan.com Or to hear the single, Can't Stop, go to: https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=fVDcMKD28jg Or to hear it on iTunes with remixes, go to: https://itunes.apple.com/ie/album/ cant-stop-single/1393047709

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NA Menswear

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superdry

Fashion for the Big Freeze Brian Rochford admits it’s time to fight the freeze fashionably!

BRRR...Baby it’s cold outside!

With the freezing weather finally upon us, it’s time to embrace the fashion icon in us all. Gloves, scarves, coats, hats, and layers, what’s not to get excited about in the fashion world.

The nineties are back with a bang. And if you haven’t thrown out you old track-suits, you are well on your way to being right on trend this Winter. If you think the bucket hat was only for old folk, well you’re wrong, because it has made its way on to the catwalk.

Even the eighties shell-suit has been dragged out, so it’s anything goes for Autumn/Winter this year. That’s why you should keep your head while everyone around you is losing theirs .

With this season, there are a few looks that will keep you warm and looking good. Knits are always big this time of year, so it’s important to choose the right style, colour, and fabric, that is right for you.

The right knitwear can transform any outfit from functional to fabulous.

The classic turtleneck sweater is a must for this time of year, adding style and comfort to jeans or slacks. For many, getting this look right is the ultimate in smart-casual.

The cardigan (yes the cardigan) can be worn with just a shirt, or with shirt and tie, and when worn under a smart suit jacket, can create that man-about-town look, or a sophisticated look of elegance and timeless style.

Next up is the crew-neck, as this stylish piece is so versatile. If you chose a fine cotton, it can be worn with or without a shirt, and this sweater enhances the look of casual slacks or a variety of jeans. Make sure that you choose well when buying knitwear, as you want it to harmonise well with your existing wardrobe.

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Double-breasted jackets were at the forefront of men’s fashion this year. They not only look cool and stylish, but will keep you warm from Autumn on to the end of Winter.

These jackets work well with a range of sweaters and shirts, and look equally on-trend with a shirt and tie. Double-breasted jackets and coats will be around for a long time, so it’s a worthwhile fashion investment.

Boxy jackets are still in favour, and with such a range of styles and colours to choose from, you will be spoiled for choice.

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Don’t forget there is still the standard wool overcoat, which offers style and sophistication, and will keep you warm as the chill winds start to blow. The wool overcoat can also be worn for that smart business look, or you can pair it with a hoodie and skinny jeans for that ultimate warm fashion statement.

asos

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Hawes&curtis

maocwee

hardy amies

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I AM TONIE WALSH Scott De Buitléir interviews Ireland’s Godfather of Gay, and long-time rights activist, Tonie Walsh, about his new show, I AM TONIE WALSH, which will run at the Project Arts Centre, Dublin, from November 27 to December 1st Hi Tonie, and welcome.

Can I ask you first of all where did the decision to bring I Am Tonie Walsh to the stage come from, and why now?

My co-writer (and one half of Thisispopbaby) Phillip McMahon, loves reminding me of how much he enjoyed my contribution to Úna Mullally’s oral history of the marriage equality campaign, In The Name Of Love (History Press of Ireland, 2015). “So many laugh-out-loud moments that could be mined for documentary theatre”, was how he put it.

Sometime in 2016, when I found myself rather rudderless and fighting depression, he approached me with the idea of making the show. Co-incidentally around this time, I had begun reading my journals and diaries dating from the mid-1970’s, and throughout the year uploaded socio-cultural nuggets on Twitter that were phenomenally well-received.

Several meetings with Phillip and Jenny Jennings (the other half of Thisispopbaby) ensued, and following a successful Arts Council grant, we were in a position to present the show as a ‘work in progress’ at last year’s Dublin Theatre Festival. Here we are now.

Tell us about the show - what can the audience expect, especially if (on the offchance) they had not heard of you until now?

People know me either from several decades of dance-club work and promotion (that I also used to leverage my civil rights volunteerism) or through my sustained involvement with Dublin’s Hirschfeld Centre, and the National LGBT Federation. To anyone who knows nothing of me, the show is a wild roller-coaster, with more than its fair share of jaw-on-thefloor moments.

You have been deeply involved with the Irish gay community and the Dublin gay scene for decades - what has changed for the better, and what do you miss?

Gay men (and lesbians, by association) are no longer criminals. Our criminality was used as a cop-out by civil society and statutory Ireland. We were invisible, and when we became visible and vocal (from the 1970s onwards) so many attempts were made to silence us, to marginalise us, and delegitimize us.

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As Taoiseach Varadkar rightly pointed out, at last June’s state apology to gay men criminalised for consensual sex, the very existence of the evil Victorian legislation sanctioned states of exclusion and oppression, and tacitly encouraged a culture of bullying, violence, and worse, murder, against our gay brothers. Our gay sisters remained in the shadows for so much longer, doubly oppressed by virtue of their sexuality and gender.

No longer criminals, no longer silenced, our Rainbow Society of LGBT ‘misfits’ is progressively moving to the centre of Irish society, free to take our full and rightful place in the imagining and building of a new and better republic. This is a profoundly transformative and exciting process, that will be (has been) the liberation and betterment of all in our society.

The mainstreaming of LGBT identity, and the removal of criminality, has paradoxically taken away some of the edginess and transgressiveness that one associates with anyone living on the margins. But assimilation (into a truly diverse society) doesn’t necessarily require a diminution of what makes us distinct or ‘queer’. And in any case, we’ve still a long way to go to having our unique queer worldview, and collective cultural sensibilities, fully embraced and celebrated by the heterosexual mainstream. There’s much work yet ahead of us!

What do you hope the audience will take away from this show?

Our show riffs on many of the tropes that are a significant stepping-off point for Thisispopbaby; notions of place and identity, a celebration of the other, mining the phenomenal change in Irish society these past few decades, addressing unfinished business. At the same time, Phillip, Jenny, and I were keen to excavate the AIDS crisis of 1985-1996. It affected me hugely, and convulsed a nascent gay liberation movement.

Shockingly, there have been very few cultural responses to the period, and the trauma it evoked. My director, Tom Creed, likens this aspect of the show to a “meditation on grief”. That said, it’s a tragi-comic roller-coaster of 75 minutes, as you’d expect from forty years of timetravelling! There will be much laughter, and there may well also be tears.

And finally, where to next for Tonie Walsh?

The initial process of writing the script with Phillip has given me the impetus to push on with a memoir. I’ve no intention of publishing my journals - that may change - but they offer some delicious triggers for one or two volumes of memoirs.

I’m busy with another (and really significant) research and writing project that I don’t want to talk about quite yet. While this is coming to fruition, I’ve been steering a public consultation process on the design and procurement of an Irish AIDS Memorial, which I really feel is overdue. Expect to hear more about this over the coming months.

My volunteer work with the Irish Queer Archive continues apace. I’d like to see a new level of engagement from the National Library of Ireland (NLI) in the way the collection is celebrated and exploited.

The future success and value of the collection also requires an outside group, drawn from the LGBT community, that will interface with NLI and civil society, driving funding and sponsorship, encouraging deposits, and advising on collaborative projects. An advisory group with the right skill-set and verve could do a lot to develop the Irish Queer Archive as one of 20 EILE Magazine

"...it’s a tragi-comic roller-coaster of 75 minutes, as you’d expect from forty years of time-travelling!

There will be much laughter, and there may well also be tears"

Tonie Walsh Images: Ste

the most significant archival collections of modern Ireland (which I believe it is already, but not everyone knows that!).

We would like to thank Tonie for taking the time to talk to us about his new show, I AM TONIE WALSH, running at the Project Arts Centre, 39 Essex Street East, Dublin, from 27 November to 1st December 2018, for 5 nights only.

For more info on the show, please see pages 22,23 following.

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I Am Tonie Walsh World premiere for Project Arts Centre this November

It’s all back to Ton

I Am Tonie Walsh is the living legend, clu activist, and Godfath Walsh. The show wi 27 November to 1 De Centre, 39 Essex Stre

Known as Ireland’s God living legend. For decad rights – for housing righ – while the country chan

A legendary DJ, club im master-storyteller, Toni social change, from som gloriously, after dark. A still fire in his belly.

He has been involved in since 1979, spending his Hirschfeld Centre, the c cultural resource for les he became the first open to Dublin City Council.

A longtime advocate for and outspoken critic of g HIV and STI infections, Poz status on World AID launched a campaign to

I Am Tonie Walsh is over consumption, and about standing up for w while doing so.

Written by Phillip M Performed by Tonie

Costume Design by T

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nie’s Gaff this November…

a powerful new show about ub impresario, iconic DJ, her of Gay in Ireland, Tonie ill run for 5 nights only, from ecember, at the Project Arts eet E, Dublin.

dfather of Gay, Tonie Walsh is a des he has fought tirelessly for civil hts, women’s rights, and queer rights nged around him.

mpresario, historian, activist, and ie tells the story of Ireland’s seismic meone who has lived through it, And he’s here to tell us why there’s

n the LGBT civil rights movement s 20s immersed in Dublin’s capital’s major social, political, and sbians and gay men. At the age of 24, nly gay person to stand for election

r improved sexual health strategies, government inertia around new , Tonie publicly declared his HIV DS Day 2015. The following year he o build an Irish AIDS Memorial.

about active citizenship, creativity community. It’s a call to action what is right – and being fabulous

THISISPOPBABY is an Irish theatre production company best known for their international smashhit show RIOT, the Where We Live programme around St. Patrick’s Festival, their legendary arena at Electric Picnic Music & Arts Festival 2008-2010, their longterm collaboration with drag-queen, Panti, and their take-over of the Abbey Theatre with both Alice in Funderland – A New Musical, and WERK performance/art/club.

I Am Tonie Walsh is Directed by Tom Creed and Produced by Jennifer Jennings.

Set & Lighting Design is

by Ciarán O’Melia and Sound Design by Alma Kelliher

Project Arts Centre, Space Upstairs Tickets from €15-€20 Please note: Early Bird tickets have sold out!

Preview: Tues Nov 27 €15 7.30pm Dates: Wed Nov 28 €20 7.30pm Thurs Nov 29 €20 7.30pm Fri Nov 30 €20 7pm Sat Dec 1 €20 7pm Commissioned by THISISPOPBABY and Project Arts Centre Funded by The Arts Council

McMahon & Tonie Walsh Walsh

Tonie Walsh

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Everyman Theatre Cork Legally Blonde the Musical 1st-3rd November Monfort College of Performing Arts presents

talent, for children aged 3 years of age upwards.

LEGALLY BLONDE

The college is dedicated to developing performance skills in dance, drama, singing and musical theatre, as well as having fun and building selfconfidence, in an exciting, creative and nurturing environment.

The Musical 7.30pm Thursday 1st – Saturday 3rd November 2018 Saturday Matinee 2.30pm Everyman Theatre, Cork Tickets €22 | Concession €20 OMG, like, you totally have to see Legally Blonde the Musical!

The Montfort College of Performing Arts are proud to present the Cork premiere of LEGALLY BLONDE The Musical, at the Everyman Theatre, from Thursday 1st to Saturday 3rd November, for four performances only.

Legally Blonde is a fabulously fun international award-winning musical, based on the hit 2001 film, and is an upbeat story of self-discovery, which follows the transformation of Elle Woods, as she tackles stereotypes, snobbery, and scandal, in pursuit of her dreams.

For over half a century, the Montfort College of Performing Arts has been one of Ireland’s most prestigious and credible training grounds for young

Playing the coveted role of Elle Woods is Abi Murphy and Caitlin Mulcahy, supported by well-known Cork performers, including Keith Greene, Anthony Palmer, Lucy O’ Connell, Eoghan Moloney, Louise Morgan, and Kayme O’ Callaghan, and supported by a cast of over 150 Montfort students, with ages ranging from 9 – 18 years.

This all-singing, all-dancing, feelgood musical comedy is so much fun it shouldn’t be legal, and is the ideal mid-term outing for all the family.

Tickets are priced at €20 and €22 Book at www.everymancork. com or by phone 021 4501673 For full event brochure, go to: Everyman Autumn Brochure PDF:https://goo.gl/z7iW7R www.everymancork. com/2018/11/legally-blonde/

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MENTAL HEALTH AND I Stephen Spillane tells us how important it is to recognise signs of depression or anxiety, and how to limit their effects on your life See the person with the smile on his face, always surrounded by people? Think he has it all figured out?

I have learned to slow down, say no every now and then, and acknowledge my stress and anxiety, and work to reduce them - by going to the gym, singing with the choir, and just going for coffee with colleagues and friends.

Far from it. This is what many people thought about me, until it all came crashing down.

I still have relapses, especially during tough times in life, because life is never easy, but that is when the strategies I have learned through counselling, CBT [Cognitive Behavioural Therapy] and talking with friends and family have helped me through.

Depression, anxiety, over-stretching, and stress, can all take their toll and lead to intrusive thoughts when you aren’t looking after yourself.

Sometimes you can be surrounded by people, yet still feel alone.

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For me, anxiety, depression, and stress are things I cannot avoid, and will be with me at all times, but

I can limit how they impact my life - but only because I talked, I got help with medication and counselling.

I now stand on my own two feet, but I never take that for granted.

- Stephen Spillane

Ed’s Note: Stephen was born and raised in Cork city, has been a political and community activist over the years, and is a member of Cork LGBT choir, Choral Con Fusion.

He is also an active member of his local Church of Ireland community.

"Depression, anxiety, overstretching, and stress, can all take their toll and lead to intrusive thoughts....."

Stephen Spillane

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Album Review

Mika – Life In Cartoon Motion Retro Review By Lisa Reynolds

This month we are back in 2007, where Mika has arrived on the music scene, bursting with colour and quirkiness. His debut album, Life In Cartoon Motion, was a very fresh sound at the time, following on from the single, Grace Kelly, number 1 in Ireland and the UK, amongst other countries. Endlessly playable and infectious, the album was filled with life, vibrancy, and fun, and so many wonderful tracks that it’s hard to pick a favourite.

The album, produced by Mika and Greg Wells (Dua Lipa, Adele, Celine Dion, Elton John, Pharrell Williams, Pink) opens with the aforementioned Grace Kelly, with the memorable lines: “I tried to be like Grace Kelly, But all her looks were too sad. So I tried a little Freddie. I’ve gone identity mad.” A delightful and unique track, which has become Mika’s most famous and best remembered song since.

It is about how record companies were trying to change his style to fit him into a box, which would sell, and how he wanted to be himself and do his own thing. A song for the beyourself playlist. I loved it.

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Lollipop follows, which Mika wrote for his younger sister, advising her not to have sex too soon, saying it would “mean something different to guys than it would to her”. Mika’s young cousin was also on this track. It was actually very cleverly pieced together to be radio friendly. It was obvious what it was about, and yet the way it was written meant it got plenty of radio play. A fun tune with a catchy chorus.

So far, the album is on the faster side, but on the next song, My Interpretation, we find a beautiful piano-based track, which shows another side to Mika’s songwriting.

Gorgeously mellow and stunning.

Love Today is next. Yet another track that was all over the radio at the time. The song is this euphoric burst of joy about feeling happy, and being in a good place in your life. Pure joy.

And it is followed by another song which was everywhere at the time; Relax, Take It Easy.

Originally released in 2006, this track was re-released as a single in 2007. It’s a very upbeat, electronic-based song, with a catchy chorus that is easy to sing along with and dance to, and has a very pop festival feel to it.

Any Other World comes next, and it is a slow, haunting, track. Quite a melancholy sound, it’s wonderfully crafted. Flows brilliantly from section to section.

MIKA- Image: mikasounds.com

The next track is Billy Brown with the line: “Billy Brown fell in love with another man”.

I remember when I was listening to it years ago, my Mum getting a shock and saying: “What? With another man?!” so I kind of smile when I hear that line in the song. There wasn’t a lot of mainstream songs back then that openly and not subtly were about same-sex love, so it was cool. The song is brilliantly storytelling, and is set in the olden days, and tells the story of Billy Brown, who is married to a woman he has kids with, but falls for a man.

A really well-told story about the struggles many people faced in days gone by, because of their love for people of the same gender. An important and a very modern song even for 2007.

Starting the second part of the album is Big Girl (You Are Beautiful) which starts to the sound of someone drinking

through a straw. Presumably meant to symbolise someone drinking the Diet Coke, which is mentioned later in the song.

Another important song, this track deals with body image issues, and loving yourself exactly as you are. This was another track that was all over the radio at the time.

Featuring Afro-pop-inspired guitars and harmonies, this track has a catchy chorus, which always gets everyone singing along.

Stuck In The Middle follows, which has a very storytelling vibe about looking for love, and the ups and downs involved. The instrumentals flow wonderfully and with ease.

From the more joyous instrumentals of Stuck In The Middle, we move to the ballad, Happy Ending, which again has a very storytelling feel. Beautifully chilling and emotive, this important track is gorgeous, and has so many layers to it. Wonderfully constructed. Back in 2007

this was another song that was everywhere. Back a few years ago, this track was played over Judges Houses on The X Factor in the UK a lot, when the reveals of who was making the live shows were being shown I remember.

Probably because it has a very melancholy feel that drifts gradually into a more uplifting ending instrumentally.

Though Mika said it is a song that people tend to take their own meaning from, a huge connection he felt for the song is the important issue of homelessness. As he was recording the track in Los Angeles, he would see homeless people as he drove to the studio, and their lives and stories felt connected to the song for him. Singing on the song with Mika is opera singer, Ida Falk, who attended the Royal College of Music with Mika.

Ring Ring is next. It’s a very catchy fast track, with variations in music in the different sections that are very well put together. Great

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MIKA Cannes 2014 Image: Wikipedia

melody and beat.

The three songs which follow are acoustic versions of three of the previous tracks. First up is the sloweddown version of Grace Kelly. It’s interesting to hear it done in a different way. The acoustic version is still quite fast in parts, and has a slight jazzy feel to it.

Second up is the acoustic, Stuck In The Middle. The song works very well in an acoustic style. Beautifully mellow.

Ending the album is the acoustic version of Relax, Take It Easy. This track in particular sounds beautiful acoustically. With it being such an anthem, the acoustic version gives the listener the opportunity to really listen to the lyrics. It’s gorgeously done. A very well-crafted ending.

There was also a hidden track on this album, which originally followed Happy Ending on the CD version, called Over My Shoulder, which was a beautiful and melancholy piano-based track. The song was the first song Mika wrote, and it is wonderfully crafted, and will probably almost bring a tear to your eye. Very haunting, slow and atmospheric.

Quirky. Unique. Brilliant. A must-listen.

Mika’s Life In Cartoon Motion is available to listen to on Spotify.

Over My Shoulder is available to listen to on YouTube at: https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=FPR5pD4mBLM Or go to MIKASoundsOfficial for more videos at: https://www.youtube.com/channel/ UCALjQbQhtEeUFi5tSIDFY4Q

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MIKA - Image: purepeople.com

MIKA - Image: Amazon Music

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Health

Brain & Body Health in the Colder Weather Brian Rochford writes on why we should stay active as the weather turns Now that Winter is on the way, we need to make more of an effort to stay active and eat well, which will look after brain health as well as body health. Exercising regularly will help reduce the risk of Alzheimer's Disease, keeping the blood flowing to the brain, and improving memory and learning.

As the weather gets colder, the harsher conditions reduce your body’s resistance to colds and ‘flu, and you will feel less inclined to get out in the air and light. You usually veer towards eating stodgier foods as well, which will make you more sluggish, and your thinking foggier.

That is why it is so important to continue with your exercise and health routine, no matter what the weather. Always remember that we are creatures of habit. So if you develop the discipline of taking time to go through a series of exercises, you will naturally feel the benefits. It takes time to develop any good habit, and only a second to break it .

Set aside a small amount of time every day, preferably at the same time. It can be for as little as ten minutes. Keep up this routine for about one month, and you will be amazed at the changes.

Think of all the things you do every day without even thinking about it, so let your daily exercise routine become simply automatic.

You can stay motivated if you are willing to focus on the end benefits. Developing this way of thinking will be helpful to someone who feels that they don’t really like doing exercises.

For example, you will look and feel so much better, not just today, but on an ongoing basis.

Developing an attitude of persistence will also help you to stay on a healthier diet. The combination of exercise and healthy diet are really important in the battle to stay strong, and in good shape. Sleep is also very important to brain and body health, and fights depression.

It has been suggested that having a high level of stamina can help reduce the risk of dementia by

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Image: Brain Health 4 MS over 80%. This is another highly motivating reason to keep up your exercise routine.

Stamina can be described as the time it takes to reach exhaustion while exercising.

It is worth taking note that a significant portion of the brain is comprised of blood vessels, so maintaining a healthy supply of blood to the brain is very important. Further studies suggest that even older people, who exercise consistently, can see their mental faculties decline at a slower rate. A diet rich in anti-oxidants, like fresh fruit and vegetables, and a good multivitamin, will also help.

It is a very positive development that science is now supporting what many have seen as common sense, that is, that it is much better for you to be active physically and mentally.

It’s like insurance, you may not need it, but it’s best to err on the side of caution.

Other experiments have now suggested that regular exercise can see an increase in the brain's grey matter, especially in the sections of the brain that are related to the decisionmaking processes, and also complex-thinking processes.

What it all means is that we need to remain very active even into old age, if we want our brains to stay in tip-top condition. Results from continuing research all point to exercise being a very significant factor in better cognitive wellbeing later in life.

Start small and grow at a pace that suits you.

As always, remember, before starting any exercise routine, or making any changes in your diet or lifestyle, consult a medical practitioner.

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34 EILE Magazine

Club GASS Birthday: Celebrating 3 Years In November!!!

Hard to believe, but the amazing Club GASS has been up and running for 3 years in November, and will be celebrating its 3rd birthday in true GASS style, with free shots and promotions on the night.

Bunny and Dizzy will be back to help celebrate the GASS birthday, and all the regular artistes will be doing what they do best, making sure everybody is having a good time!

All is happening at the Róisín Dubh, Dominick Street in Galway, on 9th November, and the time is 11.30pm.

So get your best glad rags on, put on your happy face, and join the birthday party for Club GASS’s third anniversary!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CLUB GASS, From All At EILE Magazine!

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Northern Irish Duo – The Jap Northern Irish duo, The Japanese Popstars (Gary Curran and Gareth Donoghue) have for years been lighting up the worldwide stage with their House-inspired tracks.

You couldn’t go anywhere near a dance festival without the Japanese Popstars being mentioned. From Dublin to New York to Japan, The Japanese Popstars have done it all, including appearing live on stage with Kasabian during the MTV Music Awards in 2011.

Their second studio album, Controlling Your Allegiance, featured guest vocals from Robert Smith (The Cure), James Vincent McMorrow, Green Velvet, Lisa Hannigan, Tom Smith (Editors), Dot JR, Morgan Kibby (M83) and Jon Spencer (Blues Explosion). In 2014, they could be heard on the famous 2014 Fifa Video Game, with arguably their most famous and best track, Let Go. After a number of years travelling the world, the Japanese Popstars went back to their roots and the recording studio.

Now on 24th November, in Club M in Temple Bar, Dublin, they are back, with a 90 minute DJ set of what they do best. This is officially the Japanese Popstars comeback gig, and along with special guests, 36 EILE Magazine

panese Popstars – Are Back!

Cafolla and Engel, this event is one that any fan of dance music of any kind won’t want to miss.

Tickets start from €26, and are available at: https://www.universe.com/events/the-japanese-popstars-and-special-guests-ticketsG56XYT?ref=universe-discover There is also a VIP package, which includes a VIP Meet and Greet, and VIP area overlooking the gig.

Doors Open 7.30pm till late Date: 24th November For more, you can visit The Japanese Popstars at:

https://www.youtube.com/user/TheJapanesePopstVEVO

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Dance Theatre: Cloud Study – Smock Alley Theatre, Dublin John Scott’s Irish Modern Dance Theatre brings his wildlyacclaimed dance piece, Cloud Study, to Dublin, in a show that chases dreams, memories and home.

Following sell-out performances and standing ovations at Galway International Arts Festival 2018 last July, John Scott stages Cloud Study, his wild, beautiful, and explosive ‘running dance’ with music by Ryan Vail at Smock Alley Theatre, Dublin, this November.

In a specially revised staging for Smock Alley’s Boys’ School, Cloud Study is part dance, part dream, part theatre, part athletics.

Two compelling dancers, Mufutau Yusuf, an Irishman, born in Nigeria, and Salma Ataya, a Palestinian Dabka dancer, attempt to run 1,000 kilometres in circles and lines through the space, chasing dreams, memories, and 38 EILE Magazine

home.

John Scott, creator of the stunning HYPERACTIVE, and award-winning migration-themed Fall and Recover, returns to Smock Alley to give Dublin audiences their first taste of his fierce and highly energetic running dance piece; running away, running in circles, which become turns and then falls.

Each fall and run generates beautiful, frantic, raw movements of lifts, and wild shapes in the air.

The music for the show is created by the super-talented Derryman, Ryan Vail, noted for his spectacular audible creations of experimental electronica. Currently, Vail is a big star in TV music circles, and recently composed a remix of the opening title music for the smash Netflix series, Stranger Things. Ryan’s most recent album, Distorted Shadows, has been shortlisted for Album of the Year 2018 by Northern Irish Music Prize,

which also lists Vail for Best Live Act. Cloud Study is the perfect blend of dance, music and monologues. The show also tackles themes of migration, which is very close to Scott’s heart and his dance work over the years. This powerful dance piece runs over four days for five performances, so there’s plenty of opportunity to experience this outstanding piece of performance work.

CAST: Mufutau Yusuf and Salma Ataya CREATIVE TEAM: Choreographed & Devised by John Scott Music by Ryan Vail Lighting and Design by Eric Wurtz Dramaturgy by Lucius Fromm Assistant Choreography and teaching by Muirne Bloomer Costumes by Justine Doswell “Ireland’s dance landscape has been given a splash of colour by iconoclast John Scott, spearheading Irish Modern Dance Theatre, a group which has already become something of a national institution… Scott also addresses the details of aesthetic, social and spatial hierarchy… words and gestures somewhere between Beckett, Chaplin and Monty Python” – Thomas Hahn/ tanz Cloud Study runs from 21 to 24 November at SMOCK ALLEY THEATRE, Dublin 2 Opens Wednesday 21 November 8.00pm €15/€12 Runs until Saturday 24 November 8.00pm €15/€12 Matinee Saturday 24 November 2.00pm €12 Box Office – Tel: 01 677 0014 / www.smockalley.com *Approximate duration of show – 50 Minutes Further information at: www.irishmoderndancetheatre.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/irishmoderndancetheatre/ Twitter: @IMDTJohnScott

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A Date with Castro’s History EILE’s Founder and Editor-at-Large, Scott De Buitléir, writes from San Francisco, where a trip to the popular Castro District revealed a deep-rooted and valuable history lesson worth cherishing.

The Californian Sun shone brightly upon the colourful streets of Castro as my partner and I walked along Market Street towards the famous gay neighbourhood.

Truth be told, I knew little about San Francisco before I arrived there as part of our annual two-week ‘big holiday’, where we’d usually spend a week each in two different locations. The previous week was spent in British Columbia; exploring beautiful Vancouver and spending Canadian Thanksgiving with my father’s cousins in Victoria, the province’s capital on Vancouver Island. For San Francisco, I knew little more than about Alcatraz, the Golden Gate Bridge, Lombard Street, and Castro; the world-renowned gay village that was once home to Harvey Milk.

Growing up in Dublin, my gay village was more 40 EILE Magazine

of a gay mile. My first experience of the gay community was joining BeLonG To, when they were still based in Outhouse on Capel Street. Afterwards, we teenagers would be allowed into the now-gone gay bars, Yello or GUBU (now Pantibar) to enjoy a soft drink and play pool downstairs, or sometimes we’d go to a café to socialise after the group ended.

Eventually, we became old enough to enjoy nights out at the George, the Dragon, and Glitz at Break For The Border. I have many good memories of enjoying the Dublin gay scene with friends, but I’m grateful that my first experience was in the more community-based Outhouse when I came out at 15.

In comparison to Dublin’s gay mile, Castro is colossal.

Beside Harvey Milk Plaza, where the city’s street cars and light rail stops, is a massive and iconic rainbow flag, flying proudly over the district. In many ways, the

rainbow flag has almost as much meaning – if not more – than the American flags flying atop so many other buildings in San Francisco.

Here, it not only symbolises pride and diversity, but also a refuge for the generations of LGBTQ people who have come from across California, the United States, and the world.

Almost every building, shop, grocery store, bar, bank, office, and restaurant has a large rainbow flag on display somewhere; a statement that this region of the city is unified in its own diversity, and most of all, proud. Even the zebra crossings are painted in the rainbow style; a motif not unique to Castro (as I noticed it in Vancouver’s Davey Street gay village also) but powerful nonetheless.

After exploring the area a little, we discovered something that we both wanted to explore; the GLBT Historical Society Museum. For only $5,

Image: misterb&b

we were shown just how important and deep-rooted LGBT history was within the neighbourhood, the city, and to American society overall; from discovered photos of same-sex couples from the 19th Century, to how native American society regarded two-spirited and gay people

as just another part of their culture (while early settlers introduced homophobia as part of their supposedlycivilised colonisation to the Americas). For more modern history, the museum also hosted an exhibition on the campaign against the socalled Briggs intitiative, a

proposed ballot measure that would’ve put LGBT teachers (or those suspected of being LGBT) out of their jobs. The atmosphere and varying levels of homophobia present during that era resonate strongly with the present day, when many within the LGBT community are concerned

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with the new right movement, from America to Russia and elsewhere. If anything, it shows that history has a tendency to repeat itself, and a battle won doesn’t always signal an everlasting peace.

In between the history of lesbian journals, the local leather scene, gay-friendly ‘bohemian’ restaurants, and the reaction to the AIDS epidemic, what hit me the hardest was the tribute to Harvey Milk. He recorded an audio last will, where he said that in the event of his assassination: “I ask for the [gay rights] movement to continue, for the movement to grow, because last week I got a phone call from Altoona, Pennsylvania, and my election gave somebody else, one more person, hope. And after all, that’s what this is about. It’s not about personal gain, not about ego, not about power – it’s about giving those young people out there in Altoona, Pennsylvania, hope. You gotta give them hope”.

Hearing Harvey Milk’s recording brought me to tears, and unexpectedly so. While I had no connection with San Francisco, I felt thankful for the efforts Milk and his contemporaries made to bring a visible equality to the streets of Castro and San Francisco, because they inspired so many others around the world to do the same in their hometowns and countries. Almost forty years on from his death, I wonder what Milk would have thought of not only Castro today, but also of the quality of LGBTQ lives across North America and further afield.

I wondered how proud he’d be to know that in places as relatively small as Ireland, there are LGBTQ children who live comparatively easy lives, thanks to countless activists, campaigners, legislators, charities, organisations, and their supporters.

Harvey Milk was killed over ten years before I was born, and yet I walked out of the GLBT Historical Society Museum with my partner,

feeling deeply grateful and humbled for the passion he had to bring an end to the prejudice and hate experienced by so many in San Francisco and elsewhere.

Today, we still do not live in an idyllic world, but it is worthwhile to take stock of the progress made in many parts; to enjoy the freedom to marry, to have a family of one’s own, to lead the career one wishes, or to live a full life without fear of AIDS, regardless of HIV status. All these rights and more are built on the hard work and campaigning done by not only past activists, but current ones.

We have so much to be grateful for, and we have come so far, but equality is not permanent. It must be fought for, and when achieved, it must be guarded and protected, so that future generations may hold on to that hope.

-Scott De Buitléir

Image: kqed.org

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Image: baynewsnow.com

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Letter - Ireland’s Failure Towards Its Trans Community The letter below was received by EILE Magazine on 30th September from P. Roberts*, a mother whose transgender daughter has recently attempted suicide: “Yesterday afternoon my daughter tried to commit suicide. She swallowed some Xanax, took a taxi up into the Dublin mountains, filled her backpack with large stones, and walked into a lake.

I don’t know where the lake is, I don’t know if it was rocky or sandy underfoot, or if the sun was shining, I don’t want to know—but step by step she walked out into that freezing dark water, until she stopped.

I am one of the lucky ones, the lucky parent, whose child didn’t succeed in killing herself. Why didn’t she go through with it? She stopped because while she was slowly walking towards death, she thought about the people who love her.

This is not the first time she has tried to take her own life, but it’s the first time she left a suicide note— a note for me, her mother —and when I read it, on her computer screen, with her sitting cold and damp beside me holding my hand, it was only then the tears began to flow.

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My daughter is nineteen years old and transgender. She was assigned male at birth, for those who are not familiar with trans terminology. She is an amazing, highly articulate, highly sensitive, highly intelligent, and highly creative being, who has found her short time on this earth to be so profoundly painful that she does not want to keep living.

She is not a victim of mental instability, as many would like to believe—she has simply weighed up the pros and cons of living, and has decided against it.

According to a recent trans mental health and well-being survey, 78% of trans people throughout Ireland have thought about ending their lives and, even more sinister, 40% have actually attempted suicide.

My daughter has a loving, supportive family, wonderful friends, and a comfortable, secure home, and, yet, with all these things, she has still found the world to be such a hostile place that she doesn’t want to be here.

Image: Wichita Peace and Social Justice Center

What must it be like for all those trans children and young people in our society who have no support, who are thrown out of their homes on to the street, who have no safe place to retreat to, and no access to help transition to escape their indescribably painful gender dysphoria? And if they do manage to negotiate all the paperwork and red tape to make it on to a waiting list for a state-funded gender clinic (there are only two in this country), they then face a minimum wait of 24 months (at time of writing but increasing every day) before being offered a first appointment on the long and difficult road to gender transition.

Is it any wonder that the attempted suicide rate is so high amongst the trans community?

And these are only the reported statistics.

What about all those trans children, young people and adults who are too despairing, too overwhelmed, and too terrified to come out, and who kill themselves without anyone even knowing they are trans?

Why did my daughter make the decision—a clearly well-thought-out and pre-meditated decision—to end her life?

A month ago—after two months of gathering the relevant documentation, the three referral letters from our GP, a psychiatrist and a clinical psychologist, as well as blood tests, and a further six months of waiting, every day checking the letter box—she finally went to her first appointment at a private gender clinic in Galway (the only one in Ireland).

We had made the decision to go private as the public list was eighteen months long (back in January 2018), and we were told there was only a five-week wait for the private clinic.

In the two months it took for us to gather the necessary documents, that five-week wait jumped to six months.

After nearly three hours of driving we reached the clinic in good time, and my daughter was shown into the doctor’s office.

I sat outside in the waiting room, knowing full well the importance of a good outcome of this meeting. Barely fifteen minutes later, the doctor called me in and told me she would be unable to treat my daughter due to the geographical distance between our home and the clinic.

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The doctor, one of only two endocrinologists in the country who treat gender dysphoria, had failed to use my daughter’s correct name and pronouns, failed to treat her like a human being and look her in the eye, and used inappropriate terminology when asking questions. When my daughter calmly corrected her, she was told by the doctor she would be unable to treat her, and was shown the door.

To be treated in such a manner, the ‘gatekeeper’ system at its worst, with a doctor so inundated with private patients that she can pick and choose her clients at will, and after waiting eight long months with the hope that her pain would finally be addressed, was a terrible blow.

Afterwards she told me that the way the doctor had treated her caused something to snap inside, and that she would never be able to trust the medical establishment again. In effect, this meant the end to her dreams of transitioning. That day the suicide watch, an old ‘game’ for me, began again.

My daughter, however, is one of the lucky ones. She has a mother who will not give up, who tenaciously keeps going, exploring every possible avenue available. The next day I found an online gender clinic based in the UK, gendergp, which provides hormonal therapy during the long waiting period before being seen by the NHS. Once again, Ireland is exporting its unwanted, embarrassing problems, just as it does with unwanted pregnancies and abortion. During the four weeks we have dealt with this online clinic, we have experienced a team of professional, caring and hugely supportive individuals who have treated my daughter as a person, not a name on a file. Three days ago, we finally heard that she had been given the go-ahead to commence hormonal therapy.

I relaxed. I rejoiced. I let go of my suicide watch.

But for my daughter, it was too much to bear. Traumatised by her previous experience of the gender medical establishment, convinced that hormonal treatment would never actually materialise, and terrified that even if it did go ahead it would not help her in the cruel, bigoted, hostile world of transphobia that she battled every day, she decided to end it all, all the seemingly endless pain, confusion, despair and fear.

It was the love of her mother and her best friends that stopped her, as she stood weighed down by the stones in her bag in that cold, cold water.

And I am one of the lucky ones, as I said at the beginning of this letter.

How many more of our young people will feel forced to give up their lives before something is done?

How many more will die before we treat our trans community of young and old alike with the respect, understanding and support they deserve. As the trans community chanted in the streets of Dublin a couple of months ago—Trans Rights are Human Rights.

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How many more children will wish they’d never been born before our schools are given the resources necessary to help those children overcome their fear of being bullied and rejected, and allow them to embrace their true selves?

Before we set up a humane healthcare system of gender clinics accessible to all, without the ‘gatekeeper’ mentality and the endless months of waiting?

How many more parents will lose their children before our society accepts that trans people are here amongst us, and here to stay, whether we like it or not?

When will Ireland become a kinder more tolerant place, a place where my daughter can grow up and live to be the truly wonderful, vibrant and beautiful being she is?”

P.Roberts [*Editor’s note: The writer has changed her name to protect her daughter’s identity]

EILE Magazine 47

Travel

Winter W We all need a little something extra to get us through the colder winter months, a little taste of sunshine to warm your soul, a taste of luxury to see us through until Spring.

From relaxing on the white sand beaches of the Indian Ocean and snorkelling in its crystal clear waters, to discovering Thai culture and the magnificent wildlife of Sri Lanka. These destinations are just the beginning, all with something special to offer you.

Right now Hayes & Jarvis Ireland have some great offers for you to either embrace the winter months ahead or escape them for sunnier climates.

10 nights in India’s Golden Triangle from only

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€2,089pp Embrace and escape the winter with a 7 night India’s Golden Triangle Private Tour with Shimla extension, covering 2 nights in Delhi, 2 nights in Agra, 2 nights in Jaipur and 1 night in Delhi, followed by 3 nights in Shimla.

Price includes: Return flights ex. Dublin, 10 nights accommodation and tour as stated, with select meals as per itinerary, taxes and charges.

Travel: January 2019 11 nights in Sri Lanka from only €2,999pp Escape the winter with 6 nights Splendours of Sri Lanka tour covering 2 nights in Sigiriya, 1 night in Kandy, 1 night in Nuwara Eliya and 2 nights in Yala National Park followed by 5 nights at the 5* The Fortress on a B&B basis.

Price includes: Return flights ex. Dublin, 11 nights accommodation and tour as stated, with select meals as per itinerary, taxes and charges.

Travel: February 2019

City Palace Jaipur

Wonders!

14 nights in South Africa from only â‚Ź4,479pp Make the most of the winter with a 14 night Grand Tour of South Africa covering 1 night in Johannesburg, 2 nights in Kruger National Park, 1 night in Swaziland, 2 nights in KwaZulu Natal, 1 night in Durban, 1 night in Port Elizabeth, 2 nights in Plettenberg Bay, 1 night in Oudtshoorn and 3 nights in Cape Town.

Price includes: Return flights ex. Dublin, 14 nights accommodation and tour as stated, internal flights, with select meals as per itinerary, taxes and charges.

Travel: January 2019 12 nights in Thailand from only â‚Ź1,999pp Indulge yourself this winter with 3 nights in Bangkok staying at the 5* Anantara Bangkok Riverside Resort and Spa on a room only basis, followed by 3 nights in Chiang Mai staying at the 4* Tamarind Village on a B&B basis and finishing with 6 nights in Krabi staying at the

5* Dusit Thani Krabi Beach Resort on a B&B basis.

Price includes: Return flights ex. Dublin, 12 nights accommodation and tour as stated, internal flights, taxes and charges.

Travel: March 2019 Did you know that Hayes & Jarvis Ireland is a sister company of American Holidays? Though the brand is new to the Irish market, the team have been providing Irish holiday makers with tailor made trips of a lifetime for over 15 years.

For more information visit www. hayesandjarvis.ie to be truly inspired or call into the Hayes & Jarvis office just off Grafton Street - 18- 19 Duke Street, Dublin 2 - where the expert staff will help you create your dream holiday.

EILE Magazine 49

Travel

A match made in Heaven...

Some people live for a sense of thrill, others long for luxury, many dream of days by the sea. When choosing a holiday, why settle for just one?

Experience the bright lights, casinos and nightlife of Las Vegas and see that it really is as good as the movies. Then, kick back on a lounger on the beach, and relax on the beautiful beaches of Cancun. What more could you ask for?

Cancun is known for its vibrant and energetic nightlife, with a great selection clubs, bars and cocktail lounges to try out during your holiday. Indulge in all-inclusive luxury by day and then dance the night away! The powdery white sand and clear waters make for a Caribbean paradise where watersports are the main diversion. Scuba divers and snorkellers flock to the region for some of the best coral reef diving in the world.

From spectacular stage shows and death defying acts of magic, to waltzing fountains and vast casinos, Las Vegas is a dazzling playground for all. Find sensory overload and lavishness at every turn! Where else can you see Elvis, pharaohs, gladiators and the Eiffel Tower all in one day?

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Live out the life you dream of at your desk and make the most of your holiday in 2019 with an incredible twin centre trip to Las Vegas and Cancun with American Holidays.

Spend 3 nights in the 3* Excalibur Hotel followed by 7 nights in the 4* Now Sapphire Riviera Cancun on an all-inclusive basis from only €1,830pp.

Price includes: Return direct flights ex. Dublin, 10 nights’ accommodation as stated, taxes and charges. Based on two adults sharing.

Travel: May 2019 Ref No: 51377373 Spend 3 nights in the 4* Park MGM Hotel followed by 7 nights in the 4* Dreams Sands Cancun Resort and Spa on an all-inclusive basis from only €1,915pp.

Price includes: Return direct flights ex. Dublin, 10 nights’ accommodation as stated, taxes and charges. Based on two adults sharing.

Travel: May 2019

Ref No: 51377373 Spend 3 nights in the 4* MGM Grand Hotel and Casino followed by 7 nights in the 5* Dreams Sands Cancun Resort and Spa on an allinclusive basis from only €2,056pp.

Price includes: Return direct flights ex. Dublin, 10 nights’ accommodation as stated, taxes and charges. Based on two adults sharing.

Travel: May 2019 Ref No: 51377373 Call American Holidays to book on 01 673 3804 or drop into their office at 18- 19 Duke Street - just off Grafton Street - where the expert staff will help you plan your holiday of a lifetime. For more information visit www. americanholidays.com.

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Frances Winston on Movies Directed by: Bryan Singer - Starring: Rami Malek, Lucy Boynton, Gwilym Lee, Ben Hardy, Joseph Mazzello, Aidan Gillen, Tom Hollander, Allen Leech, Mike Myers To say this film has had a tumultuous journey to the screen is an understatement.

Between losing its original star (Sasha Baron Cohen) and losing its director (Singer was fired from the film and replaced by Dexter Fletcher, but is still credited due to DGA guidelines) to storyline issues, it’s a wonder that this has finally made it to the bigscreen.

But it is here, and has been hugely hyped for the past several months, with the studio no doubt hoping that the affection still held for Freddie Mercury will translate into ticket sales. And to be fair, his life-story is the stuff of high drama, and should have made for an outstanding picture.

Unfortunately, it never quite reaches its full potential, and what we get instead is an extremely sanitised, and edited, version of the events that helped shape the iconic frontman into the legend we all know.

The task of bringing Freddie back to life on the big-screen has fallen to Mr Robot star, Rami Malek, and it has to be said that he does an amazing job. His prosthetic teeth are

somewhat ill-advised, and at times are a bit distracting, but his performance is fabulous.

There are moments – particularly during the band’s live performances, that you almost forget you’re not watching Freddie.

Unfortunately, in the scenes where he is not performing, we aren’t really given much insight into what made him tick.

There’s a lot of arguing among the bandmates, some flashes of diva-like drama, when a record company executive (in an in-joke played by none other than Mike Myers) is refusing to release Bohemian Rhapsody, a lot of chat about their songs, and, of course, a look at his relationship with Mary Austin – Freddie’s soulmate, and the main benefactor of his estate when he passed away.

We see brief flashes of racism, and some grappling with his sexuality, but nothing that really explains how he developed into the cock-sure confident character he was known as. From the outset, the Freddie on-screen is supremely confident in his abilities, and yet we never discover why.

Also the tales of debauchery and hedonism from Queen’s heyday are well-documented, but producers, Brian May and Roger Taylor, would clearly rather forget that aspect of their background, and instead of wild parties, we get a group who are heading home to their wives and children, leaving a

lonely Freddie seeking solace wherever he can find it.

The movie culminates with a recreation of the band’s iconic Live Aid performance in 1985, and this is truly spectacular.

However, throughout the film, there are many missed opportunities to delve deeper into the psyche of the tragic showman.

As a Queen fan, I did enjoy this, despite the historical inaccuracies and dramatic licence. But I really felt they could have pushed it further.

It is rated 12PG, so this may explain the more familyfriendly version of certain events, but aiming for a more grown-up rating would have made a huge difference to this film.

Of course, the songs are brilliant. Every single one is an iconic anthem, and you will find yourself tapping your feet along to them. For many people, this will be enough.

However, as a fan, I felt I knew no more about Queen or Freddie leaving the cinema than I did entering it, which is normally the benchmark for a good biopic.

Malek should definitely garner some awards buzz for his role, but this is far from the definitive Freddie Mercury story. That tale is still waiting to be told.

In Cinemas Now!

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Katie Taylor Image Irish Boxing.com

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Frances Winston on Movies continued...

KATIE Directed by: Ross Whitaker - Starring: Katie Taylor Even those who aren’t boxing fans can’t help but admire Katie Taylor. The Bray-born pugilist has managed to carve out an impressive career in a traditionally male-dominated sport, and she has somehow managed to do it without offending anybody.

She doesn’t do the trash-talk of the likes of Conor McGregor, nor does she splash her private life all over the media. She genuinely seems married to her chosen sport, and comes across as extremely likeable and humble in interviews.

This documentary follows her as she makes inroads in her professional career, after an extremely disappointing performance in the Rio Olympics. Plagued by doubts following her spectacular loss there, and without a manager after falling out with her father, she literally has to start from scratch, building her reputation in the more showy and competitive pro world. Her efforts are also hindered by the fact that women’s boxing isn’t taken as seriously as men’s, so Katie and her team literally have to change the system, as well as break through the ranks, to get her a coveted title fight.

Whitaker had full access to

Katie, and it is truly fascinating to witness her grit and determination to succeed. She is incredibly single-minded, and other than the glitch in Rio, this shows in the many remarkable wins she has enjoyed over the years.

It is this same moxy that saw her pretend to be a boy in order to be allowed to box competitively as a child, and also saw her fight to get women’s boxing recognised as an Olympic Sport. It is difficult not to admire her, and even the most cynical of viewers would have to acknowledge that she deserves every iota of her success.

The problem is that we don’t see much more than that here.

We witness many professional highs and lows, but Whitaker barely scratches the surface when it comes to discussing her father, and what happened between the pair.

Baby throughout, and her remarkable rise would make an excellent feature film.

Don’t expect to learn anything new about the champ though.

This is pretty one-tone throughout, and the focus is predominately on her career.

Even her family members discuss her boxing and its impact moreso than giving us a glimpse into what makes her tick.

Her mother feels that because she was a shy child that sport gave her an outlet. But plenty of children use sports in this manner, and very few of them have the kind of unstoppable drive Katie has.

Unfortunately, you will come away from this none the wiser about what motivates her, although you will have a lot of admiration for her.

In Cinemas Now!!

It undoubtedly had a devastating effect on her, but it garners mere minutes of the running time and a couple of other brief references later on.

While her training and fights are indeed impressive (and exhausting to watch – you will feel extremely lazy watching this!) it would have been nice to get to know a bit more about the Katie outside of the ring.

Given that his subject is so engaging, this makes for an entertaining-enough documentary. There are shades of Rocky and Million Dollar

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Frances Winston on Movies continued...

Smallfoot Directed by: Karey Kirkpatrick – Starring: Channing Tatum, James Corden, Zendaya, Common, LeBron James, Danny DeVito, Gina Rodriguez, Yara Shahidi, Ely Henry, Jimmy Tatro Anytime I got freaked out by a creepy-crawly as a child, my mother used to say: “It’s probably more scared of you than you are of it”.

While I very much doubt that (do wasps and earwigs even feel fear!) this is the premise at the heart of this movie, which sees a tribe of Yeti (aka Bigfoot) living above the clouds, and constantly telling tales of the fearsome fictional ‘Smallfoot’.

You don’t have to be Einstein to grasp that they are talking about humans. However, some of the younger Yeti aren’t convinced that Smallfoot is fictional, and when Migo (Tatum) encounters a wildlife documentary filmmaker, Percy Patterson (Corden) both think that their luck is in.

Migo wants to show off his Smallfoot to the Yeti community, while Patterson sees a way to revive his career, which has been going through a bad patch. As is the way in these films, as the pair get to know each other, they both learn new things and develop emotionally, but not before we are served up a healthy dose of a moral message about acceptance and judgment.

Obviously this is aimed at a younger audience, but most adults should find this good fun also. It is beautifully animated, and the strong voice cast do a great job of bringing the characters to life.

It’s peppered with catchy tunes that veer just the right side of annoying (although if your LO plays the soundtrack for the 100th time I can’t guarantee that will still be the case) and the story manages to be sweet without veering into saccharine. This is helped in no small part by Patterson’s sardonic humour (basically James Corden plays him as himself).

It’s not quite up there in the annals of animated classics, but it will definitely amuse the LOs, and they are sure to want more than one watch of this.

The moral message is somewhat in your face, but should resonate with most people, and if you have to sit through a children’s movie, you could do worse than this.

It’s a lot of fun and will leave you with a dose of the feelgoods.

In Cinemas Now!

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Frances Winston on Movies continued...

Directed by: Drew Goddard – Starring: Jeff Bridges, Cynthia Erivo, Dakota Johnson, Jon Hamm, Cailee Spaeny, Lewis Pullman, Nick Offerman, Chris Hemsworth When a film has a cast like this, and the basic premise is seven strangers find themselves in the same hotel trying to survive the night, you know that it’s aiming for cult-classic status.

This definitely falls into this category. It wears its influences on its sleeve (I defy you not to see shades of Tarantino and the Cohen’s throughout this!) and also manages to inject some contemporary social commentary into the storyline, despite being set in 1969.

The El Royale is a novelty Hotel, that sits astride both Nevada and California, to literally offer patrons the best of both worlds. Long past its prime, and 10 years after a shady killing occurs there, a priest (Bridges) a nightclub singer (Erivo) and vacuum salesman (Hamm) all find themselves seeking sanctuary for the night (sounds like the start of a great joke actually!).

Their check-in is interrupted by a hippy chick (Fanning) who has no time for small talk.

As they all settle into their rooms, we learn that all is not as it seems. Hamm is actually a government agent, Bridges’ priest is actually a small-time crook just out of jail, and has a personal reason for visiting

the place, and Johnson has a young, distressed girl tied up in her room. Even the seemingly innocuous hotel clerk (Pullman) is hiding his heroin habit, and numerous other secrets.

Over the course of the night, all of their pasts come back to haunt them in a showdown with a charismatic cult-leader (Hemsworth).

As you may have gathered, this movie is made up of several subplots that come together for the big finale. All of the characters have interesting back-stories, but some are handled better than others, and you do lose interest in a couple of them.

In terms of the cast, Bridges is amazing, bringing so many layers to what could easily have been a very two-dimensional performance. However, the standout performances come from two of the least known cast-members, Erivo and Pullman. Both are fantastic and completely engaging, and you really do find yourself rooting for them.

Hemsworth’s cult-leader is somewhat of a cliché. All snake-hips and seductive patter. He makes it work, but this is a far more complex character than what we are presented with here. However, Hemsworth looks great in the role, and spends much of it shirtless, which will no doubt keep certain sections of the audience very happy (there were certainly no complaints at

the screening I attended).

The soundtrack is also very reminiscent of a Tarantino movie (he does love his classic tracks). Here we get everything from the r ‘n’ b to soul to the rock of the era (with a little bit of church music thrown in for good measure). It is impossible not to engage with the catchy tunes, and you’ll definitely find yourself going ‘I haven’t heard that in ages’ more than once.

The scenes of violence are all carefully choreographed, and almost cartoonish at times.

There is a lot of blood and gore, but it never really feels gruesome. This is in keeping with the overall whimsical air of the whole movie, and will no doubt appeal to those with a weaker stomach.

If you are looking for a good old-fashioned popcorn movie, then this is it. Although it flags in parts, on the whole the energy is high, and the performances are great.

It is really good fun and entertaining in a ‘park your brain at the door’ kind of way. It will more than likely definitely achieve that cultstatus that it craves, and should satisfy those who want something gritty yet whimsical at the same time.

It’s the cinematic equivalent of sweet and sour sauce, and that’s popular, so they could be on to something.

In Cinemas Now!

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Directed by: Bradley Cooper – Starring: Bradley Cooper, Lady Gaga, Andrew Dice Clay, Dave Chappelle, Sam Elliott If the title of this film sounds familiar, it is because it is actually the third remake of this classic story of a fading star, who takes a rising star under their wing, and the complications it causes for their relationship.

In 1976, Barbra Streisand took on the role of the up-andcoming talent, with country star, Kris Kristofferson, playing her fading mentor and love interest.

And now, in this latest offering, the task of playing the starcrossed, ill-fated couple falls to Bradley Cooper and Lady Ga Ga – not a screen combination I ever thought I’d see in print, if I’m honest.

A Star is Born is something of a labour of love for Cooper. He stars in it. He co-wrote it. He directed it. He co-produced it.

However, this is not a vanity project, and despite captaining the ship, he doesn’t hog the picture, instead allowing the story to breathe, and other people their chance to shine.

He plays the fading star, Jackson Maine. Once a music God, a combination of tinnitus and hard-drinking and drug abuse are taking their toll on his life and career. After a show one night, he finds himself in a drag bar, simply looking for

a late drink, but instead he encounters Ally, a fed-up fulltime waitress, who aspires to be a singer, performing La Vie En Rose.

Immediately smitten, much flirting ensues, and before you can say private jet, she’s joining him on stage, and the pair are writing music together. However, when Ally’s talent gets noticed in its own right, her star ascends as his burns out. Jackson struggles to cope, and their relationship is tested to the max.

I must admit that I was dubious about this film, prior to the screening. Cooper has no musical pedigree that I could discern, and Ga Ga is a seasoned and outlandish pop veteran, and hardly a naïve hopeful. Although she has previously acted in American Horror Story Hotel, she basically played a version of herself, and wasn’t exactly stretched.

However, in A Star is Born, she is completely strippedback and make-up free, and a million miles away from the meat-dress-wearing superstar we are familiar with. For his part, Cooper is actually very credible as a hard-living music star, and has an impressive voice. The pair have a fantastic chemistry and gel musically, which is just as well, as the whole movie hangs on this central relationship. Sam Elliot must also get a special mention for a brilliant performance as Jackson’s older brother, who has been helplessly watching

him self-destruct for years.

While there are parts of the story that are somewhat incredible, and some dramatic licence is taken, overall A Star is Born is well-paced, and the development of Ally’s career is juxtaposed nicely with the decline of Jackson’s.

In terms of the soundtrack, the songs are all definite earworms – particularly the main track, Shallow – and will be stuck in your heads long after the credits role. These are perfectly credible, well-crafted songs, and each track could be a standalone hit independently of the movie. This also adds an authenticity to this offering, which can often be lacking in this sort of movie. In fact, at times, A Star is Born feels more like a biopic, and you have to remind yourself that these are fictional characters.

At the end of the day, you really care about what happens to Jackson and Ally, and even though those who know the story will know the ending, you’re still not quite prepared for it when it happens. This is a completely engaging story that – to use the cliché – will take you on a journey with the characters.

The hype around this movie is justified. Far from being a tired rehashing of an oft-told story, this version breathes new life into the tale, and is more than worthy of you admission fee.

In Cinemas Now!

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Review

Documentary -

Laverne Cox Presents: The T Word Review By Lisa Reynolds Laverne Cox Presents: The T Word (2014) is a wonderful documentary, which was executively produced by Orange Is the New Black star, Laverne Cox. The MTV documentary follows the stories of seven young trans people, from the ages of 12 up to 23 in New Orleans, Baltimore and New York, and shows the ups and downs to life as a trans person in the modern world.

In the documentary, we meet 18-yearold, Ari, from New York. Ari is a budding songwriter/musician, who shows us the new guitar that he has just got for his birthday from his parents.

Speaking about his gender, he says that he knew he was a boy since he was really young, and says that there was always something about him which never connected with being female. He spoke about how he told his Dad how he was feeling, and after a little research, his father said to him that he was transgender, and Ari was relieved and happy there was a word to describe how he was feeling and that he wasn’t alone.

Ari also speaks about how he was bullied in school by a group of guys, when he came out as trans at age 14. He also speaks about the struggles he faces in the dating sphere.

He has his 18th birthday during the course 62 EILE Magazine

of the documentary, and the girl he’s into, Rachel, comes to the party.

We also meet Zoey, who is 12 and from Los Angeles. Her interests include dancing, performing arts, acting and drawing. She speaks about how she felt sad and depressed at the idea of living as a boy, when she was a girl.

Zoey’s mother, Ofelia, and sister, Leti, also appear in the documentary. Her mother speaks about how she faced pressure from other people because Zoey was trans, and fought against those pressures in defence of her daughter.

Zoey speaks about bullying from administrators and other kids at school, but says she faced more bullying from the administrators. As someone who faced bullying from some classmates at school too, it was very sad to hear that another young girl, years later, is going through this.

The vicious cycle of bullying really does need to stop. She also speaks about plans to take part in the talent show, and that’s brilliant because it shows she isn’t letting them stop her living her life. Another unnecessary problem Zoey faces at school is that she is struggling to be allowed to use the girls’ bathroom. However, she and her Mum fight for, and succeed in bringing in a new law in California, ensuring that students in California can use their preferred bathroom.

We also meet Kye, who is 23 and from Brooklyn. He is the first transgender

Laverne Cox and cast of ‘The T Word’ - Image: GLAAD

Division One basketball player. He says that his siblings are cool with him being trans, but his mother Rolanda isn’t. We see him talking to his mother on his computer. She still refuses to see her son as her son, and still uses the wrong pronouns for him. He speaks to her about his experience at a trans health conference. But quickly the conversation becomes uncomfortable, when it’s clear that Kye’s mother sees him as her daughter. It was a hard watch, so I can’t even begin to imagine how it must feel for Kye. Kye is involved in advocacy, and also speaks about the role it plays in his life.

We also meet Shane, who is 23 and from Baltimore. He is at college while the documentary takes place, and he speaks of early struggles and fears about romance, and how his mother felt he would never find love.

But he has found love with his girlfriend Jess.

Their story is so romantic, beautiful, and exactly how one imagines real love to be.

We next meet Avery, who is 20 and from Queens. She speaks about how she is talking to this guy online that she likes, but she hasn’t told him that she is trans yet. During

the documentary, she reveals online to him that she is, and he loses interest, which clearly shows he wasn’t worth her time in the first place. But soon she meets another guy, Donnie, and they go on their first date together, which was sweet.

Then we meet L’lerret, who is 20 and from New Orleans. Trans people of colour face higher levels of police brutality and unjust targeting from the police, and adding to this L’lerret says that there is a stereotype that all trans women of colour are sex-workers.

L’lerret is a member of Youth Break Out in New Orleans, and we get to see a little bit in the documentary about what the organisation does.

Daniella is next, who is 20 and from The Bronx. Her heartbreaking story of being raped by a man with a knife is terribly harrowing.

She speaks about how helpless she felt, and her fear of not surviving the attack. After her terrible ordeal, she was taken to hospital.

There a worker treating her in the aftermath, who found out she was trans, and her reaction went from care and compassion to asking Daniella if it was sex-work.

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Ari, Kye and L’lerret also speak about starting hormones, and L’lerret, Avery, and Kye speak about fears of people realising they are trans when they are out and about. In this documentary, there is a very startling statistic: 41% of transgender people in America have attempted suicide, due to their experiences of discrimination, violence, and nonacceptance. Cox tells us, however, that the statistic is much lower among those who have support from family.

Another startling statistic we see is that 50% of anti-LGBT homicides are committed against transgender women. We see Cox, Daniella, and Avery go to the site where Islan Nettles was killed. Nettles was a 21-year-old trans woman, who was homeless, and was assaulted and murdered in New York City in 2013. At the site, they leave flowers in tribute to Nettles, and all the other young women fighting for or who have lost their lives. A short tribute to some of the women who died is part of the documentary, which was a lovely touch and very sad. At the end, we see Cox and many of the cast taking part in the New York City Pride Parade.

This is brilliantly put together. It was an incredibly interesting and important documentary. Cox and all seven of the people in the documentary came across as really nice. Cox is just simply amazing, so down-to-earth, honest, and to the point, and the same goes for the seven participants, which made this documentary a must-watch.

To watch Laverne Cox Presents: The T Word go to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDy0DhfuxfI

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Laverne Cox - Image: Vanity Fair

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Warhols lead the line-up at Art Source in the RDS Irish art lovers have the chance to get their hands on 100 pieces of original artwork for €100 – as well as unique works by Andy Warhol – at Ireland’s premier art fair Art Source, which will be held at the RDS from November 9-11.

Over 15,000 people are expected to view exhibits from artists across all genres at the biggest art event of the year.

This year’s Art Source sold out in record time and features over 175 contemporary artists and galleries over two floors showcasing painting, sculpture, photography, illustration, prints and ceramic art.

From cutting edge contemporary art, realism and portraiture, to abstract art and landscapes, Art Source 2018 will showcase it all in one place and give visitors a fantastic opportunity to meet the artists and to buy directly from them for three exciting days in November.

artwork in Art Source’s unique 100 for €100 project, with pieces available on a first-come first-served basis.

“Art Source offers visitors the opportunity to purchase a one-off affordable original artwork to make their home unique and also the opportunity to meet the artists and hear about their work,” said show organiser Patrick O’Sullivan.

Among the artists featured at Art Source is Pop Art sensation Cavanagh Foyle, an aviation lawyer who is fast gaining an international following for her provocative and colourful mixed media paintings.

Ingrid Bergman by Andy Warhol Gormley’s Fine Art will be featuring a rare iconic collection of Ingrid Bergman prints by Andy Warhol as part of a US Pop Art exhibition at the show, which also features Roy Lichtenstein, Tom Wesselmann, Robert Indiana and Jean Michelle Basquait.

And there is an opportunity for visitors Along with the trio of Bergman prints to the show to own a piece of original (Herself, With Hat and The Nun),

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Solveiga Grigaleviciute with Urban Gorilla

by Paul James of Sol Gallery who will feature at Ireland’s premier art show Art Source from November 9-11 at the RDS

Ingrid Bergman by Andy Warhol

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Gormleys will also be displaying a rare Warhol screenprint of Beethoven.

Ireland’s top artists such as Sharon McDaid, Bernadette Doolan, Thelma Mansfield and Padraig McCaul.

The show will feature a decade of live music displays from renowned music photographer, Dubliner, Ruth Medjber, who has just finished Arcade Fire’s European Tour, and has been signed up to shoot Glastonbury for the BBC.

Art Source takes place at the RDS, Dublin, from November 9-11, admission is €10 adults, €8 OAPs. Children under 16 free only if accompanied by a parent or guardian.

Opening times: Friday Nov 9: Among the featured artists will be 11am-9pm, Sat Nov 10: 10amGrace Jones, Metallica, Red Hot Chili 6pm, Sun Nov 11: 10am-6pm Peppers, Jay Z, LCD Soundsystem, Garbage, Prodigy and St Vincent.

There is a huge emphasis on visitor involvement at Art Source, and this year the show features a number of amazing attractions for children over two floors – including a Superhero Transformation Station.

Children can design their own superhero masks, thanks to Ireland’s children’s arts and health organisation Helium Arts, and then feature in a special graduation in the superhero selfie booth.

Art Source will also feature the New Earth Explorers section, an intergalactic journey where children are encouraged to imagine and paint or draw what a new planet may look like.

There will also be new works unveiled

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Ingrid Bergman

by Andy Warhol

Ingrid Bergman

by Andy Warhol

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Arosa Gay Ski Week – Switzerland, January 19-26, 2019 Arosa Gay Ski Week – 15th Annual, from January 19th to 26th, 2019 Allegra in Arosa! The typical Graubünden greeting, which can be translated from Romansh as ‘enjoy yourself’, shows how important the well-being of their guests is to the team around Hitsch, Valerie and Alex, the promoters of the Arosa Gay Ski Week non-profit organization.

What started modestly in 2005, has since become one of the best-known, and favourite, ski weeks for lesbians and gays in Europe. The more than 600 participants, from over 30 different countries, gather for funfilled vacations with lots of winter activities and parties in the gayfriendly mountain resort.

Arosa sits at the top of a Swiss valley, between Davos and St. Moritz, just 2½ hours from Zürich.

The ski region of Arosa Lenzerheide allows participants to enjoy 225km/ 140miles of slopes with fantastic snow conditions, and lots of sunny days, in one of Europe’s best skiing domains.

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Snow bunnies can discover the vast ski area in groups, with a friendly gay ski week team, or take some lessons with one of the experienced ski instructors at the ABC school.

The breathtakingly beautiful winter landscape should be enough to convince even the most resigned couch potato to chance at least one downhill run… Non-skiers are not left out: in addition to extensive walking and sledging trails, the midday rendezvous at the mountain hut can also be reached easily and pleasantly by foot!

Away from the slopes, several activities are held at various locations throughout the village, like daily après-ski and friendship dinners. So many possibilities – so little time! Fortunately, while on holiday anyone can turn night into day without feeling guilty, because you won’t miss the clubbing nights with world-class DJs, drag shows, hot go-go dancers, the Addicted pool party, or Swiss fondue night, with sleigh rides under the stars. The Arosa Drag Race slalom competition, with amazing prizes and a classical concert at the village church, are also on the jam-packed agenda.

Arosa offers accommodation to satisfy all requirements and budgets. In addition to the 12 participating 1 to 5star hotels, there is a selection of nice holiday apartments and chalets to suit any and all needs, all gay-friendly!

Best is to book a package, which includes accommodation + ski pass + event pass.

(all week), Silver (mid-week) and Bronze (weekend). They give access to all parties, après-skis, concerts, skiguiding, free sun-loungers, and deck chairs at the mountain hut, and offer 20% discount on ski and snowboard rental.

For all further information visit: https://www.arosa-gayskiweek.com/

There are 3 kinds of Event Pass: Gold

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Sydney: Gay Penguins Now Parents To A Male Chick!

(Reuters) - Two male penguins entrusted with the care of a fostered egg have welcomed a tiny sub-Antarctic Gentoo chick into the world, Sydney’s Sea Life Aquarium said on Friday.

The pair, Magic and Sphen, made headlines around the world this month when aquarium staff gave them the egg, following a successful trial with a dummy egg.

The yet-to-be-named chick, weighing 91 gm (3.21 oz), was born on the evening of October 19, and is the first sub-Antarctic penguin born at the aquarium.

The couple, who formed a bond before the 2018 breeding season, doted on the adopted chick, said Tish Hannan, an aquarium official.

“The first 20 days of a

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penguin chick’s life are the most vulnerable, so it is extra-important the chick is very happy, healthy and well fed by his parents,” she added.

Magic and Sphen had placed the egg on small nesting rings built with pebbles, and shared duties, with one patrolling for possible threats, while the other kept the egg warm.

some for its depiction of nontraditional family structures.

It was also among the titles Hong Kong pulled from bookshelves in public libraries this year, following pressure from anti-gay groups, the South China Morning Post newspaper has said.

-Kate Ashton

There is little difference between opposite-sex and same-sex rearing among Gentoo penguins, which share parenting and feeding responsibilities equally, Hannan said prior to the birth, adding that the example was not the first among zoos across the world.

A children’s book, And Tango Makes Three, based on the real story of two penguins at New York’s Central Park Zoo who reared their own chick, drew acclaim from

New Chick

Image: From video of Magic & Sphen released

by Sea Life Sydney

Magic

Sphen

“We’d go over there and Magic and Sphen would be bowing to each other”

-Tish Hannan, supervisor of the aquarium’s penguin department

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Design: Anthony Zagariko, exclusively for EILE Magazine

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Quality LGBT News and Features – Produced from Los Angeles Available via podcast on our website (thiswayout.org) or on iTunes, and on 200+ Radio Stations Worldwide!

thiswayout.org | Twitter: @TWORadio Overnight Productions (Inc.)/”This Way Out” Post Office Box 1065 Los Angeles, CA 90078 U.S.A. EILE Magazine 75

Savills Prize to be awarded at Vue Contemporary Art Fair November 1-4 76 EILE Magazine

The 2018 Savills Prize – Ireland’s most significant contemporary arts award – will be awarded at Vue 2018 which runs at the Royal Hibernian Academy from November 1-4.

The €5,000 Savills Prize is awarded to the artist who has produced an outstanding body of work in the last year or made some other substantial contribution to the visual arts in Ireland.

The artists named on the shortlist are Dubliners Claire Halpin and Janet Mullarney, Cork born and Galway-based Gordon Harris, Kilkenny’s Paul Mosse and Celbridge native Gabhann Dunne and the winner will be announced at the opening of Ireland’s national contemporary art fair Vue 2018.

“This is the fourth year the Savills Prize has been presented at Vue and we hope the award will become as important to Irish art as the Turner Prize is in the UK,” said Vue 2018 organiser, Patrick O’Sullivan.

“Savills is the perfect partner to present the Prize as most art is found in homes and businesses, and not just museums.

“Vue 2018 is a great opportunity for collectors and investors to experience some of the best contemporary art currently being created in Ireland, and to get some expert advice and guidance from leading galleries.”

Galleries participating in Vue 2018 include Graphic Studio Gallery, Gibbons and Nicholas, Sol Art Gallery, Catherine Hammond Fine Art Services, Molesworth Gallery, Stoney Road Press, Hillsboro Fine Art, Oliver Sears Gallery, Peppercannister Gallery, Kevin Kavanagh Gallery, SO Fine Art Editions, Solomon Fine Art, Taylor Galleries, Jorgensen Gallery, Olivier Cornet Gallery, Parallel Editions, Black Church Print Studio, Gormleys Fine Art, Green On Red Gallery, RS Sculptures.

Opening hours are 6-8pm on Thursday, November 1, 11am-7pm on Friday, November 2, 11am-6pm on Saturday, November 3, and 11-6pm on Sunday, November 4.

See vueartfair.ie

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The Kominsky Method starring Michael Douglas & Alan Arkin Executive Producer Chuck Lorre presents The Kominsky Method.

On November 16, meet Sandy (Michael Douglas) and Norman (Alan Arkin), two lifelong friends, who are navigating the ups and downs of life with humour, dignity, and some prostate trouble – reminding us that some friendships never get old.

The sun isn’t setting yet on the once-famous, Sandy Kominsky, and his long-time agent, Norman Newlander.

Academy Award® Winners, Michael Douglas (Kominsky) and Alan Arkin (Newlander) star as two friends tackling life’s inevitable curveballs as they navigate their later years in Los Angeles, a city that values youth and beauty. Both comedic and emotional, The Kominsky Method is an 8-episode, half-hour, single-camera show, created by 8-time Emmy Award Nominee, Chuck Lorre.

Netflix’s The Kominsky Method is written by Al Higgins, David Javerbaum and Chuck Lorre, who also directed the first episode. Lorre, Higgins and Michael Douglas executive produce the series, which is produced by Chuck Lorre Productions, Inc. in association with Warner Bros. Television.

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Alan Arkin

Michael Douglas

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Trump administration trying to define transgender out of existence - NY Times (Reuters) – The government of US President, Donald Trump, is attempting to strip transgender people of official recognition, by creating a narrow definition of gender as being only male or female, and unchangeable once it is determined at birth, The New York Times reported yesterday, Sunday.

tolerance and equality among the estimated 0.7 percent of the population that identifies as transgender. Most transgender people live with a profound sense that the gender assigned to them at birth was wrong and transition to the opposite sex, while others live a non-binary or gender fluid life.

The Department of Health and Human Services has undertaken an effort across several government departments to establish a legal definition of sex under Title IX, the federal civil rights law that bans discrimination on the basis of sex, the Times said, citing a government memo that it obtained.

Ruling on a challenge to one aspect of the Affordable Care Act, US District Judge Reed O’Connor in Texas found in 2016 that there was no protection against discrimination on the basis of gender identity.

That definition would be as either male or female, unchangeable, and determined by the genitals a person is born with, the Times reported.

Such an interpretation would reverse the expansion of transgender rights that took place under the previous administration of President Barack Obama.

It would also set back aspirations for

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A spokeswoman for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) declined to comment on what she called “allegedly leaked documents” but cited a ruling by a conservative US district judge as a guide to transgender policy.

A leading transgender advocate called the government’s reported action a “super aggressive, dismissive, dangerous move.”

“They are saying we don’t exist,” said Mara Keisling, director of the National Center for Transgender Rights, in an interview.

The Obama administration enacted regulations, and followed court rulings, that protected transgender people from discrimination, upsetting religious conservatives.

Image: PFLAG Canada

The Trump administration has sought to ban transgender people from military service, and rescinded guidance to public schools recommending that transgender students be allowed to use the bathroom of their choice.

A draft of the Trump administration memo says gender should be determined “on a biological basis that is clear, grounded in science, objective and administrable,” the memo says, according to the Times.

Medical science seeking to explain what makes people transgender is in its infancy.

Psychiatrists no longer consider being transgender a disorder, and several US courts have found the Obama interpretation of protecting transgender people against

discrimination as sound. But the Trump administration has chosen to abide by the ruling of O’Connor, the Times said.

“The court order remains in full force and effect today and HHS is abiding by it as we continue to review the issue,” Roger Severino, the director of the Office for Civil Rights at the Department of Health and Human Services, said in a statement.

-Daniel Trotta, Patrick Rucker and Amy Tennery (eile.ie 22 October 2018)

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Indonesia: Police arrest two men linked to LGBT Facebook page (Reuters) – Indonesian police have arrested two men who allegedly operated a Facebook account to facilitate meet-ups for gay people […] a senior officer in the province of West Java said yesterday, Sunday.

Instagram account.

Homosexuality is not regulated by law in Indonesia, except in the conservative province of Aceh, but the country has seen an increase in raids targeting LGBT people, forcing many members of the community underground.

Gay rights activists say the hostility often shown toward the LGBT community will backfire, by undermining Indonesia’s battle against AIDS. Indonesia recorded 46,357 new HIV infections in 2017, with nearly a quarter of those among men who have sex with other men, according to government and UNAIDS data. Other groups included sex workers and intravenous drug users.

Hari Brata, the deputy director at the West Java police directorate of special crimes, said the suspects, identified by their initials IS and IH, were arrested on Thursday.

“So far, we’re still developing [the case],” Brata said, declining to comment further.

The men being held have allegedly managed a Facebook account named Gay Bandung Indonesia, since 2015, and the group has 4,093 members, the police said on an

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The men were charged with breaking electronic information law by creating and transmitting pornographic content, a crime that carries a maximum sentence of six years’ imprisonment and a maximum fine of one billion rupiah ($66,000).

[1 Euro equals 17,483.59 Indonesian Rupiah] -Tabita Diela (eile.ie 22 October 2018)

Image: Fossbytes

Gay rights activists say the hostility often shown toward the LGBT community will backfire, by undermining Indonesia’s battle against AIDS EILE Magazine 83

Uniting Network Australia calls for end to LGBT Conversion Therapy Uniting Network, the LGBTIQ network within the Uniting Church of Australia, is not surprised by the horrendous impact on members of the LGBT community reported in a study entitled, Preventing Harm, Promoting Justice – Responding to LGBT conversion therapy in Australia, which was released this week.

• Each person carries deep grief, and, in some cases anger, over being told they were ‘broken’ and needed fixing; and

The report highlights the individuals interviewed:

•Prohibit both professionals and other people from processes that aim to change, suppress, cure, heal, or repair a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity. Any person breaching such a prohibition should be subject to significant criminal charges.

• knew from an early age, that they were same-sex attracted or transgender; • Faith and service to their respective faith communities was at the centre of their lives during the period they were subject to gay conversion and related therapies;

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• All have experienced a profound sense of loss at the lives they had taken away from them.

Uniting Network Australia states: “We endorse the recommendations issued with the study’s report and call on all levels of government in Australia as a priority to:

• Provide urgent funding for support programs to support people still dealing with

significant mental health and family issues resulting from ‘conversion therapy’.

• Add clauses to Commonwealth Government Chaplaincy funding agreements prohibiting any attempt to change a school student’s sexual orientation or gender identity, either directly or by referral, and establish training programs that all such chaplains must complete on the potential harm to children through such conversion therapies, and failure to validate their sexual orientation or gender identity.

• Make Counsellors a protected title under the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law, requiring Counsellors to be registered with an appropriate oversight body, established in association with APHRA and in NSW HCCC/HPCA. A code of practice should state that providing LGBT conversion therapy, and not supporting a person’s sexual orientation

"Each person carries deep grief, and, in some cases anger, over being told they were ‘broken’ and needed fixing........" or gender identity, is a breach of professional standards.

Further, and outside of the report, we call on all religious organisations to denounce the ‘call to celibacy’ for LGBT people, which is another form of abuse being instituted by some religious organisations, as they have realised the unacceptability of ‘conversion therapy’.

Finally, we call on all religious organisations in Australia, to explicitly state their rejection of LGBT conversion therapy, and any statements along the lines that LGBTQ people are disordered, broken, or otherwise not whole individuals. It is our view that involvements in activities such as ‘conversion therapy’ and these types of statements fail [to] uphold the fundamental premise and hope provided by Jesus Christ, who calls all of us to “Love God and to Love one another”, with no exceptions”. (eile.ie 21 October 2018)

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UK: Rise in reported LGBT+ hate crime a ‘wake-up call’ Reported hate crimes against LGBT people in England and Wales have risen by 28 percent, according to figures released on Tuesday that activists said were a “wake-up call”.

Police recorded nearly 13,300 crimes in the year to the end of March, though rights group Stonewall said its research showed four in five incidents went unreported, with younger people particularly reluctant to go to the police.

“These statistics are a wake-up call,” said Laura Russell, policy head at Stonewall.

“While some may suggest this rise is due to increased confidence in reporting, we fear these represent the tip of the iceberg in hate crimes against LGBT people.”

The crime figures were released as Britain announced a review of hate crime legislation, which will look at how to make it more effective and whether it should encompass new categories such as misogyny.

“Hate crime goes directly against the longstanding British values of unity, tolerance and mutual respect – and I am committed to stamping this sickening behaviour out,” Home Secretary Sajid Javid said in a statement.

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The government also announced plans to enhance training for police handling hate crime, which includes offences motivated by hostility on the grounds of race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, and trans identity.

Figures released by Britain’s Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) on Tuesday showed courts were passing harsher sentences on hate crimes.

Prosecutors in such cases can ask courts for an increased punishment to reflect the aggravating circumstances.

Sentences were boosted in about 64 percent of convictions involving anti-LGBT hate crime between April 2017 and March 2018, up from nearly half of cases in the preceding year, according to the CPS’s annual Hate Crime Report.

Prosecutors highlighted a case where a man on a train threatened to bring a bomb to a Pride march in the Welsh capital Cardiff, and made homophobic comments.

The court boosted his sentence from nine months to a year to reflect the hate crime element.

Police recorded 11,638 hate crimes on the

basis of sexual orientation between 2017 and 2018, up from 9,157 the previous year, and 1,651 hate crimes against transgender people up from 1,248.

They said the rise may reflect improvements in police recording of such offences and greater reporting of incidents, rather than a genuine increase.

But CPS data showed referrals by police remained low with only 1,564 cases passed to prosecutors in the same time period.

Police in London are visiting LGBT+ venues to listen to concerns during national hate crime awareness week which runs until Oct. 20.

“Our message to all victims is, don’t suffer in silence,” said Chief Superintendent Dave Stringer.

Overall, police recorded 94,098 hate crime offences last year, mostly race hate crimes, up 17 percent on the previous year.

-Emma Batha @emmabatha, Thomson Reuters Foundation (eile.ie 20 October 2018)

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Loved and loathed Raising a gay child in the former Soviet Union

It was the poems that gave it away. Heartfelt writings about a man’s love for a man, and a woman’s love for a woman, found on the family computer, sent Olena Globa into a seething rage when she confronted her then-teenage son about his sexuality.

“I sat down on the sofa next to him. I remember I was looking straight at the door, and I – very sharply, very angrily – asked him, ‘Are you a faggot?’” said Globa, sitting in her apartment in the outskirts of the Ukrainian capital Kiev.

“My ideal family turned into a nightmare,” the 54-year-old English language teacher told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

It took eight years for Globa to accept her son’s sexuality, and the battle to overcome her prejudices set her on a new path: helping other Ukrainian families accept their gay children, too.

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An old campaign poster of LGBT activist Olena Globa, and her son, Bogdan, which reads: ‘My gay son taught me how to be courageous’ – Image: THOMSON REUTERS FOUNDATION/ Shanshan Chen

government took power in 2014, and in 2015 passed a law banning workplace discrimination against the LGBT+ community.

But human rights groups say many people in the former Soviet Union still find it hard to accept anyone being LGBT+, and homophobia is widespread.

Globa also began campaigning for LGBT+ rights – and not just because she thought it was the right thing to do.

Her only son’s life depended on it.

A gay activist, Bogdan fled to the United States in 2016, fearing for his life. If her son is ever to come home, his mother knows his rights and safety must first be secured.

LGBT+ people are often harassed by strangers and by their own relatives, and face stigma, discrimination, and sometimes violent attacks, charities say.

The country scored 21 out of 100 points in a 2018 analysis by EU-funded, Rainbow Europe, ranking LGBT+ people’s rights in Europe, coming 36 out of 49 nations.

“We can talk freely and openly here about almost anything, except this group of people,” said Janthomas Hiemstra, head of the United Nations Development Programme office in Ukraine, which advocates for LGBT+ rights.

I will leave soon and what will happen with them in the future?”, she said in an interview, after a Kiev training session with families from former Soviet nations including Georgia and Kyrgyzstan.

“We’ve been observing that there have been subliminal, but also explicit, notions that ‘lifestyles like that’ should not be tolerated in the country,” he said in a phone interview.

Psychologist, Maryna Didenko, who works with TERGO, said she has observed an upsurge in the number of parents seeking help, although many still hoped their child could be ‘cured’.

Yet tolerance is what Globa is hoping to spread, founding TERGO in 2013, to educate Ukrainian families of LGBT+ people.

Concerns over what neighbours will think, misinformation, or grief over dreamt-for grandchildren hinder acceptance, she said.

“We know that society is homophobic and it’s difficult to change society in one moment. It’s easier to change a mother or a father who raised their child. It’s easier to change their attitude first and then we’ll start with society,” she said.

“The topic of sexuality and sexual orientation has been a taboo for a long time,” Didenko said.

“Parents will say: ‘When my child says that his sexual orientation is different, for me it’s like a world collapsing.’”

“The biggest homophobic person in Ukraine was me. But I’m not contagious anymore.”

But when people do finally accept their LGBT+ relative, many end up taking up the fight, Didenko added.

Apart from providing social support, TERGO uses psychologists to run training sessions to help parents understand what their LGBT+ children are going through.

Yet what began in secret is still, to this day, controversial in parts of Ukraine, with protesters commonly disrupting TERGO meetings, vandalising LGBT+ poster campaigns, or flooding their social media with hateful comments.

Still, families from all over Ukraine – and beyond – turn to the organisation for guidance, with its members reaching 1,000.

“These training sessions make you think about who we are, and who our children are,” said Nina Mikhailova, a 72-year-old Russian mother of a transgender woman.

Mikhailova has come to accept her daughter, but said her biggest challenge was persuading her other children to accept their 33-year-old trans sister.

“I find myself between a rock and a hard place.

Globa is no exception, and campaigns tirelessly for LGBT+ rights to make amends for the years lost when she rejected her son a decade ago.

“LGBT people (have) had very unhappy lives in Ukraine. They have to hide to their identity, they have to hide their life, they have to pretend, they have to live someone else’s life every day,” she said.

“But I’m quite confident that sooner or later … Ukrainian LGBT people will obtain their rights. Same-sex marriage will be legal. And I think that Ukraine will be a safe place for LGBT people to live and realise themselves,” Globa said.

Travel for this story was supported by the United Nations Development Programme.

-Lin Taylor, and Shanshan Chen, Thomson Reuters Foundation (eile.ie 20 October 2018)

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Documentary about Katie Taylor - ‘KATIE’ Irish cinema release Wildcard Distribution have released the critically-acclaimed and award-winning, Katie, directed by Ross Whitaker (Unbreakable: The Mark Pollock Story). The Irish cinema release was on Friday, 26th October.

Katie, which picked up the Best Irish Feature Documentary award at the Galway Film Fleadh earlier this year, intimately follows champion boxer, Katie Taylor, as she attempts to rebuild her career after a year of turmoil which threatened to derail her career. With many writing her off, Taylor decided to start again, and the notoriously private champion agreed to let a small crew document her attempt to rescale the heights.

Katie Taylor has won six amateur European championships, five world amateur championships, and is an Olympic Gold Medal winner from the London 2012 Olympic Games.

She turned professional after a disastrous campaign at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, which saw her crash out in the first round, despite being favourite to win.

The film unravels the deeply personal reasons behind the career low, and shows the champion’s grit and determination to start over as a professional.

Katie won her first world-title within a year, and became the first woman in history to headline her own Sky Sports show.

The feature documentary was produced by Ross Whitaker and Aideen O’Sullivan (When Ali Came To Ireland) for True Films and Venom, with Andrew Freedman (His & Hers, Mom and Me) as Executive Producer, with funding from Screen Ireland, RTE, the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland, and Wildcard Distribution.

To see where Katie is playing and to book tickets: www.KatieTaylorFilm.com

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Image: IABA

Image: Katietaylor.ie

Image: Entertainment.ie

Katie Taylor - Image: zimbio.com

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Information and support for women who need someone to talk to

DLL – Phone: (01) 872 9911 (Callback facility available) 92 EILE Magazine

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Information and support for women who need someone to talk to

DLL – Phone: (01) 872 9911 (Callback facility available) EILE Magazine 95

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STF

Image: Andre LaDon