Mia Mullarkey’s previous career as a behavioural psychologist fostered her interest in people. Now, as her filmmaking flourishes, Mullarkey is looking at human nature through a lens instead.
Her most recent short Safe As Houses, which premiered at Slamdance in January, saw her work with Siobhan Loscher, a neurodiverse actor. Shot on a housing estate in Fassaroe in County Wicklow, Safe As Houses centres on Aggie, a woman with Down’s syndrome, and a decision she makes which sets in motion a chain of events.
Mullarkey is now developing the short into a TV series with writer Sarah Ahern and producers Claire McCabe (The Ghost Of Richard Harris) and Jeanie Igoe (Conversations With Friends), which will look at the development of Dublin and how that has impacted on the people who live there. “The theme is to do with gentrification, and how working-class communities often aren’t given a political voice,” she reveals. “We’re meeting a lot of people from workingclass communities and people that are impacted by this.”
A period spent travelling and working as a volunteer with children’s charities where she started making mini documentaries persuaded Mullarkey that she should pursue her passion for filmmaking. She earned first class honours for a master’s in screenwriting at the National Film School before directing several TV programmes, among them TG4 music show Cumasc. Her documentary shorts include Mother & Baby, about children forcibly taken from their unwed mothers by the Catholic Church, and Throwline, about a taxi driver who trained in suicide awareness and prevention. Her work has picked up more than 80 awards worldwide.
From 2020-21 Mullarkey was mentored by Lenny Abrahamson as she transitioned into drama, and her first drama short, The Passion, was nominated for an Irish Film and Television Award. Given her previous experience in documentaries, Mullarkey is interested in having a documentary aspect to her fiction work “where I really integrate with people and try and absorb as much of their realities as I can”.
She is currently adapting a yet-to-be published novel into a TV series with producers Rory Gilmartin (Herself) and Sleeper Films), and has her sights set on her first feature. “I’m on the hunt for a script,” she says. “I’m talking to producers and writers and (may) possibly write a script myself.”
Contact: Mia Mullarkey
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