Thursday, June 12, 2025, 7:00 PM – 9:00 PM
The Bloomsday Film Festival presents Horrible Creature and Q&A with Áine Stapleton on Thursday, June 12th at 7pm in Belvedere College.
In 1915, James Joyce and Nora Barnacle travelled with their young children, Giorgio and Lucia, to Switzerland to escape the turmoil of World War I. Lucia Joyce later trained as a professional dancer with artists including Margaret Morris, and performed throughout Europe, until her career ended suddenly in the early 1930s. She was forced into psychiatric care by her brother and underwent experimental treatments at various hospitals across Europe. She remained in psychiatric care for 47 years until her death in 1982.
Horrible Creature was filmed at locations throughout Switzerland where Lucia spent time, including her primary school in Zurich and a psychiatric hospital near Geneva. Here, Lucia’s own writings and experiences are interpreted by a cast of international experimental dance artists to conjure her world between 1915 and 1950. The film fearlessly explores her difficult family life, her unproven illness, and her undoubted talent.
This film is one of a series of films about Lucia Joyce by Áine Stapleton, which challenge the accepted biography of Lucia’s life and consider the complexity of her mental strain.
“A stunning visual experience” Film Ireland
“Visual, sensory, vicarious, disorienting, disturbing …. Go see it!” James Joyce Gazette
“as poetic as it is beguiling” Tages-Anzeiger
The screening will be followed by a Q & A with director Áine Stapleton.
Runtime: 65 minutes
Tickets are €8.
