Crowdfunding campaign for first movie to tell whole story of Irish Famine launched

A crowdfunding campaign has been launched to fund the first feature-length movie to tell the whole story of the Irish Famine, including the role of the English Prime Minister, Lord John Russell and his infamous henchman Trevelyan.

“The Great Hunger Movie” is an action drama set in Ireland in the 1840s.

Powerful, controversial and extremely moving – "The Great Hunger" is an epic story of famine, love and revolution that will for the first time break through the censorship to tell the full story of the famine and remember the lost generations of Irish.

Read More: Famine awarded more control to Catholic Church in Ireland, says new documentary

“It is a grave injustice that no feature film has ever told the whole story of the greatest humanitarian tragedy of 19th century Europe,” says Tim Pat Coogan, Ireland’s most famous historian and associate producer for the movie.

English Prime Minister Lord John Russell (L) and Sir Charles Trevelyan (R).

“With the help of the worldwide Irish diaspora, we using crowdfunding to break this taboo.  We are going to break through the censorship and make the movie the establishment doesn’t want made.”

With a goal of $2 million, the team behind the project include renowned Hollywood script consultant Dr. Linda Seger, writer/producer T.K Hayes, and associate producer Kathleen Hayes.

Linda Seger has authored nine books on script writing, including Making A Good Script Great. Seger is one of the most prolific writers in her field. Image: Twitter

They are confident that the Irish at home, and the global Irish diaspora, will support the movie and the efforts to finance it.

Dr. Seger describes the movie as “a really big movie” and “a very rich and dimensional story”.

The team decided to use this innovative financing approach as they claim there is persisting censorship on the topic of the Irish Famine.

“We believe censorship is the reason why no feature-length movie has ever told the full story of the famine and with The Great Hunger Movie we are going to make the movie the establishment doesn’t want made,” says writer/producer T.K. Hayes.

Read More: “We were nothing and nothing could be done for us” - new Irish Famine account

The crowdfunding campaign will run for 60 days with a range of perks and benefits available to backers of the project.

Supporters can make a donation on the movies Indiegogo crowdfunding page.

Further information can be found on the official website and on Facebook. 

What do you think about this new project on the Irish Famine? Let us know in the comments below.