The Welfare of Tomás Ó Hallissy

Inspired by anthropological studies into the huge incidence of mental illness in rural Ireland in the 1960s and 70s (notably Paul Hockings and Mark McCarty’s 1968 production The Village), The Welfare of Tomás Ó Hallissy is a portrait of a society on the brink of irreversible change seen through the eyes of two American anthropologists who arrive to study this dying culture. The film revolves around the protagonist, Tomás, a speechless 10-year-old boy, whose life spans the cusp of the old world and the new. Meanwhile the anthropologists question their own methodology as they struggle to get beyond the opaque and ritualistic social relations that define this place.