Land without God

An intimate portrait of a family coming to terms with decades of institutional abuse and the impact it has had on their lives. The film examines the legacy of Institutional abuse by the Irish Church and State over the last century. The story follows the writer, Gerard Mannix Flynn, together with generations of his family who, for the first time, speak openly together about their childhood traumatic experience of being removed from the family home, only to be incarcerated in children’s homes and industrial institutions run by religious Catholic orders. Here the children worked the land from dawn until dusk, ill-clothed, half-starved day in day out. The regime was merciless.

The film focuses on the impact that violence has had on them and their class. Why did this happen? How does one exit the trauma buried deep in the bones of generations? Is it possible to walk away free? And will they let you? Flynn leads us through the story of modern structured slavery. He becomes the receiver of the intimate tales of his family. He listens, witnesses and carefully archives their stories within his own story.