Frank Berry’s ‘The Lost Children Of Tuam’, starring Monica Dolan, starts filming for Element Pictures, mk2

EXCLUSIVE: Production is underway in Ireland on Irish filmmaker Frank Berry’s The Lost Children Of Tuam, produced by Element Pictures and Liam Neeson’s El Paso Films.

France’s mk2 is handling world sales.

Monica Dolan, whose credits include the award-winning ITV series Mr Bates vs The Post Office, stars as real-life history enthusiast Catherine Corless. While researching the Bon Secours Mother and Baby Home in Tuam, County Galway, for a local historical society, she uncovered a devastating possibility that as many as 796 children had been buried in unmarked graves on the property.

The discovery rallied a campaign for justice for both victims and survivors of the home. Excavation of the mass grave began in the summer of 2025.  Andrew Bennett and Ian McElhinney co-star.

The film is based on The New York Times article of the same name by Dan Barry, for which Neeson’s El Paso optioned the rights. The Salt Path and She Said writer Rebecca Lenkiewicz has penned the script.

Element’s distribution arm, Volta Pictures, will release in Ireland and the UK.

Chelsea Morgan Hoffmann, Ed Guiney and Andrew Lowe produce for Dublin and London-based Element Pictures, along with Jules Daly for US company Big Red Films and Neeson for El Paso Films, with Martina Niland for Ireland’s Port Pictures, and co-producer Besides Pictures.

The Lost Children Of Tuam is backed by BBC Film, Screen Ireland, Coimisiún na Meán and RTÉ. The  executive producers are Kristin Irving for BBC Film, Niamh Fagan for Screen Ireland and Christian Vesper for Fremantle, which has a majority stake in Element. 

“It is a great honour to me that a dedicated, professional and high-profile film crew are creating this film, which follows my arduous journey from when I first discovered what really happened in Tuam and the struggle I faced to bring this truth to light against so many obstacles,” said Corless. “It’s startling too, that I have observed the passion with which Frank Berry and his team are ensuring that the truth of what happened is paramount, and I am grateful, for that has been the essence of my long journey.”

Berry, whose credits include Aisha, starring Letitia Wright and Josh O’Connor, said:  “We must face this history, and our hope is that this film makes a meaningful contribution to that process. We have a remarkable cast, led by the amazing Monica Dolan, and crew who are all approaching this subject with great care and sensitivity, aware of its deep significance in Ireland and beyond.”

Neeson added: “I am so honoured and proud that after eight years of preparation we are to start production on this profound story of one woman’s relentless pursuit and dedication in uncovering the horrific truth of the events in Tuam that shocked our nation to its core and is still reverberating in every aspect of our society. The truth will out.”

“The story of Tuam is so important and is so resonant today in terms of children and who is deemed worthy of care and who is not. It is a shattering and vital interrogation into the past that carries into our present,” added Lenkiewicz.

“Catherine Corless has served as an inspiration to so many in her campaign for justice,” noted the producers Morgan Hoffmann, Guiney, Lowe, Niland and Daly, “and along with the combined creative genius of writer Rebecca Lenkiewicz and director Frank Berry, the brilliant Monica Dolan playing Catherine, and all of our outstanding cast and crew we are honoured to finally bring this story to the big screen.”

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